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Old 08-05-2003, 11:29 AM   #1
Hubris Boy
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Taiwan's Will to Defend Freedom

Taiwan News
08/04/2003

On July 30 the U.S. Department of Defense presented to Congress its "2003 Annual Report on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China." While similar in content to last year's report, the present one places added emphasis on China's ongoing preparations and possible strategies for military action against Taiwan. Besides noting that the number of missiles deployed on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait targeting Taiwan has now reached about 450 and is steadily growing, it emphasizes Taiwan's will to defend itself as being the key factor determining the PRC's chances of success or failure in any possible future conflict.

Last year's report opined that the most important factor bearing on the possibility of an outbreak of hostilities in the Taiwan Strait is the conditions proposed by China for a peaceful settlement with Taiwan. It hypothesized that if proposed conditions appeared to assure a high degree of autonomy for Taiwan, perhaps Taiwan's threshold of resistance to unification would be lowered. In the 2003 report, by contrast, this factor was demoted to third place, coming behind the matter of Taiwan's assessment of the U.S.' willingness to come to Taiwan's aid in the event of conflict. The current report, moreover, clearly expresses the view that divergent views on national identity in Taiwan have a major impact on Taiwan's security and that China is endeavoring to take advantage of this situation by attempting to exacerbate divisions in Taiwanese society.

As in the 2002 report, the 2003 report judges that China is a developing a "coercive strategy" which would save it the trouble of having to invade and occupy Taiwan. Says the DoD's Executive Summary of that report, "Preparing for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait is the primary driver for China's military modernization. While it professes a preference for resolving the Taiwan issue peacefully, Beijing is also seeking credible military options. Should China use force against Taiwan, its primary goal likely would be to compel a quick negotiated solution on terms favorable to Beijing." To that end, China appears to be devising a variety of coordinated military, political and economic tactics to create an overwhelming combination of intimidating pressures designed to complicate timely U.S. military intervention while terrorizing Taiwan into submission with the message "Resistance will be totally meaningless if it spells devastation of Taiwan."

From the 2003 report's discussion of the Taiwan Strait situation, it is apparent that U.S. Defense officials are concerned as to whether the U.S. will be able to deploy its aircraft carrier-based conventional forces into the region in time to effectively counter such a scenario. The report further notes that China perhaps believes that a new leadership group in Taiwan would be more amenable to adopting policies in line with China's demands and that, in order to facilitate the emplacement of such a new leadership, it may be contemplating a "shock-and-awe-type" "decapitation" strategy aimed at wiping out unfriendly Taiwanese political and military leaders in one fell swoop.

Additionally the 2003 report reiterates U.S. criticisms of longstanding inadequacies in Taiwan's military, acting as a pressure on our government - the U.S.' second-largest military weapons sales customer - to increase its military spending and follow through on U.S. recommendations for new weapons purchases.

On so critical an issue as that of our national defense, it is a matter of urgency for our political parties to transcend the animosities that have gotten in the way of so much legislative action and strive to reach a solid consensus on necessary steps to assure our nation's security. This involves not only decisions about military budgets and weapons procurements, but, even more importantly, uniting all sectors of our society in the will to stand up for Taiwan and the principles it represents. A united people, firm in their will to defend freedom is the most powerful weapon for resisting PRC intimidation aimed at turn us into another Hong Kong.
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Old 08-05-2003, 12:04 PM   #2
xoxoxoBruce
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Billy, leave those nice taiwanese people alone.:p
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