Quietly, the US is armed Taiwan to the teeth

 Quietly, the US is armed Taiwan to the teeth

China said it "deplores as well as opposes" what Washington had done whenever US President Joe Biden recently approved a $80 million (£64.6 million) subsidy to Taiwan for the acquisition of American military equipment.

From the outside, it didn't seem like a large amount. It was less than what one contemporary fighter plane would cost. Taiwan has already placed an order for US military hardware valued at over $14 billion. Is a meager $80 million more important?

Beijing usually reacts to any military backing for Taiwan with rage, but this time there was a difference.

It's not a loan of $80 million. The American taxpayers provide it. For the first time in almost four decades, the United States of America is sending weaponry to a country it does not recognize using its own funds. This is taking place as part of the foreign military funding (FMF) program.

Around $4 billion in military assistance has been sent to Kyiv via FMF since Russia invaded the country last year. Billions more have been sent to Israel, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among other places. However, up until today, it has only ever been granted to nations or organizations that have received UN recognition. It is not Taiwan.

Under the rules of the Taiwan Relations Act, the US continued to provide weapons to Taiwan after changing its diplomatic acceptance from Taiwan to China in 1979. The trick was to provide exactly the right amount of weaponry to Taiwan so that it could defend itself against a potential Chinese invasion while avoiding selling too many that would strain ties between Washington and Beijing. The US has remained Taiwan's most steadfast friend while relying on this so-called unclear strategy to do business with China for generations.

However, China has gained significant military advantage over Taiwan in the last ten years. This formula is no longer valid. Although Washington claims its policy has not changed, it has in some very significant ways. The US State Department has quickly refuted any suggestion that FMF recognizes Taiwan in any way. However, it is clear in Taipei that the United States is rethinking its relationship with the island, particularly in light of Washington's pressing demands for Taiwan to re-arm. And Taiwan needs the assistance since it is inferior to China.

"The United States is highlighting how urgently we must strengthen our military capabilities. Wang Ting-yu, a senator for the governing party who has extensive relations to both US Congressional leaders and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, says, "It of harassment is sending a clear message that is strategically clarity to Beijing that we fight together."

He points out that President Biden used his discretionary powers to sanction the transfer of military services and equipment to Taiwan in July, adding that the $80 million is only the top of what may be a very big iceberg. According to Mr. Wang, Taiwan is getting ready to send two battalions of ground troops—the first such deployment since the 1970s—to the US for training.

However, the money is crucial, marking the start of what he claims may be as much as $10 billion over the next five years.

Transactions pertaining to military hardware may need up to ten years, according to I-Chung Lai, head of the Prospect Foundation, a think tank located in Taipei. "But with FMF, the US is sending weapons from within its own stocks and it's US money - so we aren't required to go through the entirety of the approval process."

This is significant since billions of dollars in help for Ukraine have been delayed by a divided Congress; but, support for Taiwan seems to be significantly more bipartisan. But like with the battle in Ukraine, the war in Gaza will surely limit US arms delivery to Taipei. President Biden is requesting more funding for Taiwan in addition to military help for Israel and the Ukraine.

When one inquires about the intended use of US funding at the Ministry of National Defence in Taipei, one is met with a sly grin and firmly shut lips.

However, Dr. Lai asserts that informed estimates are achievable. For example, troops may rapidly learn to employ extremely powerful weapons like Javelin and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

"We don't have enough of them in their final days and we need a lot," he states. "In Ukraine, the Stingers have run low very quickly, and the way Ukraine has been employing them suggests we need approximately 10 times the number we currently have."

Longtime observers are forthright in their assessment: the island is terribly unprepared for a Chinese invasion.

There are several issues in the list. There are hundreds of old battle tanks in Taiwan's army, but not enough contemporary light missile weapons. It hasn't modified its army doctrine, tactics, or command organization in fifty years. Few front-line groups have 60% of the necessary personnel. Taiwan's military conscription program is allegedly flawed, and the country conducts no counterintelligence operations in China.

Taiwan cut military duty from a year to only four months in 2013. The following year, the country will reinstate the 12-month requirement. However, the problems are greater. The young guys that go through it refer to it in jest as "summer camp".

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A new graduate claims that "there was no regular training." Approximately every two weeks, we would visit a shooting range and use vintage firearms from the 1970s. Indeed, we fired at targets. However, no one was properly taught how to aim, thus people continued to go missing. We didn't workout at all. The last exam is a fitness test, but we didn't prepare for it."

He detailed a system where senior army leaders, partly because these young guys would be there for such a short period, see them with complete apathy and have zero interest in teaching them.

There is a widespread belief in Washington that Taiwan has limited time to rebuild and restructure its armed forces. Thus, Taiwan's army is undergoing retraining at the US's request.

The political and military elites of the island have relied significantly for decades on the notion that China would find it very difficult and dangerous to try an invasion of the island. Taiwan prioritized its air force and navy above its army, just as Britain did.

The plan was to attack them in the Taiwan Strait and destroy their beachheads. Thus, we invest a lot of money in maritime and air defense," Dr. Lai explains.

However, China currently has the biggest navy and the best air force in the world. Taiwan's air force and navy would be destroyed in the first ninety-six hours of a war with China, according to a think tank's war simulation from the previous year.

Taipei is adopting a "fortress Taiwan" policy, which would make the island very difficult for China to seize, in response to strong pressure from Washington.

Ground forces, infantry, and artillery will come into play as the emphasis shifts to fending off an invasion on the beaches and, if needed, engaging the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in combat in the towns and cities as well as from bases tucked away in the island's forested highlands. However, this returns Taiwan's defense to its antiquated military.

"Our army faced almost total isolation in 1979 after the US's breakup of ties. Thus, according to Dr. Lai, "they are stuck in US military doctrine from the Vietnam War era."

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Washington and Taipei were unconcerned about this until lately. Chinese factories were being built by US and Taiwanese corporations throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Beijing successfully lobbied to become a member of the World Trade Organization. The US believed that trade and investment would guarantee peace in the Taiwan Strait, while the rest of the world welcomed China's economic growth.

Nonetheless, such consoling presumptions have been completely disproven by the ascent of Xi Jinping, his brand of nationalistic sentiments, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The lessons Taiwan has learned from the invasion of Ukraine are startling. The artillery has ruled the battlefield because of its frightening accuracy and tremendous rate of fire. After firing a salvo of shells, Ukrainian workers have learnt they have to move quickly because, in a few of minutes, Russian "counter-battery fire" would begin to fall on their positions.

However, many of Taiwan's artillery soldiers are armed with weapons from the Vietnam War or possibly the Second World War. They are difficult and sluggish to move, and must be loaded manually. They'd be left with no choice.

The fragility of Taiwan is compelling Washington to take action. For this reason, US trainers are traveling to Taipei to integrate with Taiwan's special forces and marines, while Taiwanese ground soldiers are being sent to the US for training.

However, Taiwan still has little chance of deterring China on its own, according to William Chung, a research researcher at the Institute for National Defence as well as Security Research in Taipei. The third thing to learn from the conflict in Ukraine is this.

"International society has to make decisions whether Taiwan matters," according to him. "If the G7 or Nato think Taiwan is critical for their own interests, then we will need to internationalise the Taiwan situation - given that that's what can make China think twice about the cost."

According to Dr. Chung, Taiwan has unintentionally benefited from China's actions in this regard.

"China is showing it is expansionist in the region known as the South China Sea and the East China The bottom of the sea he argues. "And we can see caused by in Japan where the military budget has lately been doubled."

Whether it's the historic completed the between the US, Japan, alongside South Korea, the growing significance of military alliances like the Quad (Japan, the US, Australia, and India) and Aukus (UK, US, and Australia) that are vying to build subsequent-generation nuclear-powered submarines, or the closer ties between the US alongside the Philippines, he claims the outcome is reshaping alliances in the region.

"China is trying to change the status quo across the region," according to him. This implies that the security of Taiwan is linked to both the South and East China Seas. It implies that we are no longer alone."

The extent to which the US should assist Taiwan is now the subject of intense discussion in Washington. Many longtime observers of China think that any official US commitment would incite rather than discourage Beijing. Washington is aware that Taiwan cannot possibly defend itself on its own, however.

According to a seasoned observer of China, "We need to keep quiet on the whole thing of strategic ambiguity, although arming Taiwan on the teeth."