Starting in 2022, Taiwan will start retraining 260,000 people per year, who had previously served in the military. This is possible because prior to 2018 Taiwan had conscription.
HF-IIE extended range (1,200 kilometers) ground based missiles are being massed produced, along with shorter range versions. These missiles will be able to strike deep into China, making it difficult for China to amass an invasion force. Taiwan is also developing an even a longer range missile, but is not releasing any information about it. Maybe something like a Minuteman ICBM?
Taiwan is also developing anti ship missiles to reach out across the Taiwan Strait and to target PLA transports etc.
With the huge swell in troops in Taiwan it will make landing forces on Taiwan without very heavy losses impossible. Most of Taiwan is very mountainous easy to defend terrain. Would China care about such losses? Only if the news gets back home, on just how bad things are going.
China has superiority in the sky, but not when it is over Taiwan. Taiwan will keep its fighters close to home and use its missile capability to keep China at bay. Taiwan will only engage their 300 combat fighters when China’s air force tries using fighter-bombers or protecting key resources.
Taiwan is also buying weapons such as: Boeing AGM-84H SLAM-ER air-launched, standoff land-attack missiles and of the Lockheed Martin M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System that has a 200-mile range. It will be able to strike across the Taiwan Strait.
Boeing’s Coastal Defense Harpoon (truck-mounted) anti-ship missile system, will be heavily deployed to prevent coastal landings.
I would not be surprised if Taiwan does not purchase patriot batteries soon.
This is a war that could easily be avoided. One thing about war is, the outcome never goes as planned. A strong international effort NOW is needed. Showing strong support with actual military aid to Taiwan, could nip this in the bud. Get China to stop its expansion and become a better world citizen.
Something the world and China should consider about Taiwan:
- Canada built Taiwan a heavy water reactor
- Canada also built them a plutonium separation plant in 1973
- South Africa supplied twice as much uranium as the research reactor needed
- 2006 USA secretly shipped nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan
- USA sent (mistakenly?) four nose-cone fuse assemblies to Taiwan in August 2006 (the same ones used on the Minuteman ICBM’s
- Does Taiwan have nukes? Of course not. Neither does Israel, right?
This coming war could get ugly fast. Just saying…
image sources
- Taiwan_NASA: NASA | Public Domain