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Sosok.ID – Taiwan, took steps to strengthen its armed forces to prevent and defeat an invasion by China without the help of the United States (US).
Last month, thousands of soldiers gathered on the beaches of Taiwan as the culmination of a five-day exercise aimed at showing how the island’s army will repel an invasion from China.
Jets, helicopters, artillery, and missile batteries fire live ammunition at targets offshore, sending sea-to-air jets.
Hours later, a military helicopter participating in the exercise crashed at an airfield far from the coast, killing two pilots and overshadowing a show of force.
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With the launch of the New York Times on Monday (8/31/2020), China’s increasing aggression in Asia in recent months has created fears that China may commit brazen acts in Taiwan, the South China Sea or elsewhere. places.
The recent crackdown by the ruling Communist Party against dissent and activism in Hong Kong, a former British colony long a bastion of democratic values, has added to these concerns.
Beijing’s stance has forced Taiwan, an island of 24 million people, to reexamine with renewed urgency whether it is ready for a confrontation that may now seem not too far away.
But can Taiwan save its people, stand up to China without the help of the United States?
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“I have to be honest: Taiwan’s military needs to develop a lot,” Wang Ting-yu, a member of the Parliament’s defense and foreign affairs committee, said in a telephone interview.
Last month’s crash is the latest in a series of fatal accidents, including one in January that killed its top military commander.
Taiwanese leaders have moved to reorganize the army and increase production.
Military tensions along the Taiwan Strait have increased in recent months as Taiwan has increasingly become a focal point in the confrontation between China and the United States.
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Last week, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army held a new round of shooting exercises.
The training program was unusually focused, with news targeting Taiwan and the United States.
Though more recently, the PLA involved launching four medium-range ballistic missiles in an area of the South China Sea near Hainan on Wednesday.
The series of drills came a day after China accused the United States of piloting a U-2 spy plane in one of the training areas, calling it “naked provocation.”
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China’s authoritarian leader Xi Jinping has long threatened to use force, if necessary, to prevent any move toward formal independence for Taiwan, an autonomous democracy.
China has issued the warning since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen won re-election in January by pledging to protect the island’s sovereignty, defeating a candidate seen as more peaceful.
That has raised concerns that Xi feels compelled to act aggressively, as China has done from the South China Sea to the border with India.
Chinese planes and warships have repeatedly threatened Taiwan’s airspace and waters in recent months, while officials scoff at its military as “ants trying to shake a tree.”
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“The probability of a military confrontation is much higher than before,” said Lin Yu-fang, a former Taiwanese lawmaker for the opposition Kuomintang party that ruled the island for decades.
Em. Tsai responded to China’s muscle strain by going ahead and conducting a military review.
It has moved to strengthen Taiwan’s military reserves, a critical force in defending the island in the event of an invasion.
Ms. Tsai Government announced this month that it would increase Taiwan’s defense budget by 10 percent, in addition to the 5 percent increase from the previous year.
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That would increase military spending to more than 2 percent of gross domestic product, the highest level since the 1990s.
Taiwan also finalized a deal announced last year to purchase 66 US F-16 fighters, worth $ 8 billion, over the next 10 years.
“Humiliating yourself will not bring national security,” Tsai said, wearing a combat uniform and a bulletproof vest, proclaiming at a drill on the beach in July.
He argued that only a strong defense, not a gesture of peace for China’s communist leadership, would maintain Taiwan’s de facto independence.
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For Ms. Tsai, the defense of the island has become a very serious problem.
He faces criticism for not doing enough to support the Taiwanese military, while risking angering Beijing for doing too much.
By law, the United States is committed to providing Taiwan with the support it needs to defend itself, a point that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper reiterated in recent talks.
But it is far from clear whether the United States will risk a broader confrontation with a nuclear-armed China, which means Taiwan cannot rely on it as a matter of strategy.
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Em. Tsai, Ma Ying-jeou, accuses Tsai of holding on to the hope that as long as Taiwan maintains its initial defense, the United States will intervene on behalf of the island, a scenario that she finds unlikely.
He did not elaborate, but Tsai said in an interview with CNN last year that Taiwan could last 24 hours and then China would face international pressure.
“I feel that as president, one should not tell our people how many days we can last,” said Ma, who followed a policy of detente with China during his two terms in office from 2008 to 2016 and urged Tsai to do the same.
“We need to tell our people that we can stop the war.”
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After the Chinese communist revolution in 1949, the Nationalists, under Chiang Kai-shek, withdrew to Taiwan and invested heavily in building an army that could face Beijing.
Taiwan eventually established one of the most formidable armies in Asia, and its prowess became an important part of the island’s identity, even as it avoided large-scale conflicts.
In recent years, Taiwan’s military reputation has faded as Beijing has redoubled its efforts to modernize its forces.
