Taiwan Simulates Attack From Rival China

[allesennogwat]

AP-Tuesday May 15


Six Taiwanese jet fighters touched down on a highway in central Taiwan Tuesday, as the island responded to a simulated attack from rival China at the start of three days of extensive war games.

This year's annual Hankuang (Chinese Glory) military exercises come with President Chen Shui-bian entering the last year of his eight-year presidency and tensions between Beijing and Taipei on a relatively low burner.

The two sides split amid civil war in 1949, and China insists it will use force if the democratic island moves to formalize its de facto independence.

But with Chen set to leave office in May 2008, and his independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party lagging in the race to replace him, tensions between Taiwan and China have eased noticeably.

In Tuesday's exercises, Taiwanese Mirages, F-16s and Indigenous Defense Fighters swooped down onto a highway in Changhua county, had their fuel tanks and missile pods topped off by air force personnel, and took off to face another wave of imagined Chinese attackers.

In other action Tuesday, Taiwanese artillery batteries on the offshore island of Penghu fired volley after volley of shells at "Chinese" naval vessels approaching the area from the west.


Thick plumes of smoke rose in the air as the volleys hit their mark.

The Hankuang exercises reflect rising Taiwanese fears over an intensive Chinese military buildup aimed primarily at the island of 23 million people.

Over the past decade sophisticated Russian aircraft and other weapons systems have been successfully integrated into the Chinese inventory, and more than 800 Chinese missiles have been aimed at key Taiwanese military and civilian targets across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait.

[allesennogwat]

http://sg.yimg.com/xp/ap/20070515/13/3970673454.jpg


A Taiwan airforce F-16 jet fighter takes off from a closed section of highway during the annual Hankuang military exercises, Tuesday, May 15, 2007, in Changhua, central Taiwan. Tuesday's exercise was to train pilots and ground crew to use a section of highway as a airstrip during a possible war with mainland China.

[Kevin Quinlan]

Taiwan could hurt China in a fight. Hurt them bad. But with 1 BILLION people the outcome is already written.

[mmckown]

The PRC has spent the last 15 years building an amphib capability with Taiwan sitting smack dab in the middle of the bullseye. To support this capability they have been building/buying various subs from India and Russia. No true power projection Blue water navy but well beyond the historic Brown water navy they had in the past.

The US response has been to send a carrier battlegroup or 2 into the area when ever things heat up.

For a long time I have wondered if the Chinese are making the same mistake the Japanese made in '41. The changes they have made in their navy indicate they believe that they can counter American CBGs with submarines. At least long enough to make the invasion a foregone conclussion. Basically broken down to "Sink a carrier and the round eyes will quit." And we might. But I really wonder how the US would react to the loss of 6-7 thousand sailors and 15-20 billion dollars of hardware?

[RG Coburn]

I think they're gonna need more than 6 jets....

[mmckown]

I think they're gonna need more than 6 jets....

That they got:

F-16 Falcon USA 146
Mirage 2000 France MICA / MAGIC-II 58
IDF Ching-kuo Sky Sword-II 128
F-5 USA 144

[festus]

That they got:

F-16 Falcon USA 146
Mirage 2000 France MICA / MAGIC-II 58
IDF Ching-kuo Sky Sword-II 128
F-5 USA 144



Yeah, but the Reds got WALMART, and enough of our money to destroy Taiwan and buy up the rest of the world.

[Blazerbender]

As I recall reading the PRC has also bought a carrier from the Russians. Granted it's not as capable as ours but for their short term goal I think it'll fit the plan.

[mmckown]

Nope.

No carrier for the Chinese yet. The one they bought is no where near seaworthy, having been gutted prior to sale. No reactors no machinery spaces. Most recent info places them building their own..2010 or so....

[Blazerbender]

Well they could put a couple Evinrudes out back with some hang gliders and at least do some training. Even an empty hull is better than nothing.

[RG Coburn]

Ever notice in the movie "Rambo II",the viet riverboat he's on makes a putt-putt-putt sound ,like its an old antique,but if you look close,theres a pair of big outboards on it,painted black. Take a lesson from it. Just cuz it sounds and looks old timey...

[mmckown]

Just cuz it sounds and looks old timey...

There is little doubt that the carrier they bought from the Ukraine is being used for training and as a test bed platform. They claim she is to be used as a floating casino. Yeah, sure.

However there is also little doubt that she is dead in the water. Her original displacement was at about 66000 tons, but she was delievered as a stripped hulk at about 35000 tons. No reactors, no machinery spaces, nada, nothing.

The Chinese certainly have the capability to either install their own reactors or convert her to a conventional platform. But they are not magicians. Making her sea worthy would require the addition of 25-35 thousand tons of machinery, gear and people. Hiding how she sits in the water is hard to do and so is the work that would need to be done to get it all installed.

Even if they were to get her going, she isn't much more than a floating target without the combined forces of an accompaning Carrier Battle Group. At her best, as designed, she is a good bit smaller than a modern US CVN weighing in at something close to the last configurations of the Midway class CVA.

I am not saying to dismiss her or other Chinese attempts to build a blue water navy. A modern Blue water navy is "the" power projection force, bar none.

[Blazerbender]

Oh I agree. In the current recon technology it would be had for them to do the necessary work without the CIA knowing it. I think it would be interesting to peer into their minds and see what their intentions are. But knowing the asian mind it's probably an expensive diversion from the true plan, a "looky over here" while we do this over there scenario.

[allesennogwat]

When it happens we'll see which side the 1 billion people choose. It's funny that years ago the USSR said they were going to control the world through economic means,Red China said they would rule the world through military force. Now the USSR is no more and Red China is cashing in on economics and taking Hong Kong. Little Taiwan isn't hurting China's income and a war for a little island wouldn't make much sense these days.

[mmckown]

The Chinese have been overly fixated on Taiwan for 50 years. It's not about money or the military threat Taiwan represents.

It's kind of like Rhode Island succeeded from the union, we might get kind of fixated on that too.