Could China Take Taiwan By Force?

in August this year US President Donald Trump approved two multi-billion dollar arm sail to Taiwan the biggest since the start of his presidency almost three years ago in April 20 1905 hundred million dollar f-16 training and parts package was approved in July there was yet another endorsement of a 2.2 billion dollar sale of hardware including 108 m1a2 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger surface-to-air missiles in August 20 19 bees were followed by an approval of an eight billion dollar sale of 66 f-16 V fighter jets the single largest from the u.s. to Taiwan in many years comes with training that comes with maintenance support it comes with all of the logistics support that make it not just a weapon but a capability the ability to use it we are your motivations for Tom to go early on you know we don't saudade today I'm calling me going hi dad since the Zillman don't don't talk saying that they go don't water this year Phase II so that creates an incentive for both the US and Taiwan to ensure that Taiwan has the means to defend itself it's a deterrent signal to Beijing that the u.s. stands behind Taiwan stands behind their continued survival but what advanced capabilities can these weapon systems provide the Taiwan military the arena capabilities are significantly enhanced our ability to engage targets much greater we can see targets further away traditionally most combat aircraft to a fairly reliant on ground-based radar systems to help track and in vector them into into the attack these are radar systems which which in a sense don't really rely on these ground systems any longer you could regard this as containment or as a firewall against the P&A for example expanding in the region and possibly destabilizing other country but China possesses roughly 1500 modern fighters while Taiwan possesses around 400 fighters compared to China's might the latest 8 billion f16 be fighter acquisition there's no game changer analysts say it may do little to alter the overall balance of power across the Taiwan Straits as these are not a challenge to Beijing's land sea and air forces the f-35 can function as though it's a quarterback coordinating a number of different platforms and capabilities into a single coordinated attack scenario the f16 are nowhere close to that PDF 35s also have some degree of stealth capability which helps to reduce their radar signatures and gives them a certain degree of of survivability these are sixteens are nothing nothing in that category for the US arms sales and defense trade are key tools of foreign policy the arm sail comes as relations between the United States and China are already being tested by a trade war and a decoupling of technology supply chains is the deal then an indirect message from Washington to China well Trump try to sell some out-of-date f-16 with f-35 price to Taiwan I view that is propaganda to do two things one is to help present time to win the election another is trying to use it as a leverage to deal with the China in trade talks that had happened in the context of an ongoing us-china trade war is probably just unfortunate timing if the united states were trying to use this arms sales as a way to stick it to the chinese so to speak the indicator for that would have been much more visible so swapping upgrades to f-16 fighter jets to f-35 the latest and the most highly prized technology that the US has developed I have had several interactions with people in Washington who are intimately involved in the processes of releasing weapons to Taiwan I've yet to meet a single individual whose intention it is to anger Beijing with arms sales to Taiwan China for its parts has been preparing the groundwork for future invasion of what it considers a rogue province so can China take over Taiwan by force of course mainland China can use force against Taiwan to eliminate those in support of time independence but what will be the cost China were to take Taiwan by force I think it would be destabilizing for the region I think it would be harmful to to China's own interests I think it would cause capital flight I think it would cause a lack of confidence in China and China's leadership that would lead to a really dramatic decoupling between China in the world [Music]

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 977,559

Keywords: CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, People stories, Asian perspectives

Id: d9MC5ELG3OM

Length: 5min 49sec (349 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 14 2019