Posted on 04/10/2002 4:51:56 PM PDT by demlosers
You don't need to stay under water forever when you only need to patrol a couple hundred miles. These aren't for conquering the Pacific, they're for defending a little island.
It seems to me that Taiwan's strategy is to fight a delaying action if they need to and beg the world to save them. (world = the US, of course). And submarines would effectively bar the Strait to troopships. Everyone knows countries cannot be controlled from the air.
Not really.
But this is simply a regurgitation of reports in Wasll Street Journal and many other sources.
It's accurate. The US is also selling anti-sub Orions to Taiwan.
Here is another sourceGuardian Unlimited using AP
U.s. Eager To Help Taiwan's Military
By Robert Burns
Tuesday April 9, 2002 10:10 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States can help Taiwan as much by improving its military as it can by selling it new weapons, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Taiwanese defense officials at a closed-door conference. ``We are eager to help'' Taiwan strengthen civilian control of its military, make more rational purchases of new weapons and improve coordination between its army, navy and air force, Wolfowitz said.
His remarks were delivered March 11 at a conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., organized by the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, whose chairman is a former defense secretary, Frank Carlucci. The speech was off-limits to reporters and the Pentagon refused to release a copy of Wolfowitz's remarks except in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The conference was especially sensitive for the Bush administration because it granted a U.S. visa to Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to attend the session, a move that angered the Chinese government. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and opposes U.S.-Taiwan military ties.
In a sign of its anger over U.S. dealings with Taiwan, China refused a request by the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer based in Yokosuka, Japan, to make a port call this week at Hong Kong.
China also is expected to object to U.S. plans to send a delegation to Taiwan to present proposals for supplying the Taiwan navy with diesel-powered submarines, a sale first proposed by the Bush administration last April. The Pentagon is reviewing industry proposals for building the submarines, and spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said Tuesday that the meeting in Taiwan could happen by May.
The United States broke off relations with Taiwan in 1979 in order to establish official ties with the communist Chinese government, but it keeps an unofficial embassy on the island and is its biggest weapons supplier.
In his speech, Wolfowitz repeated the standard U.S. statement that it opposes Taiwan independence but will do ``whatever it takes'' to help Taiwan defend itself. Wolfowitz's emphasis on improving the quality of Taiwan's military training, as well as the quality of its weaponry, reflects an administration belief that Taiwan faces a growing threat from China's military modernization.
``Taiwan needs reform in its defense establishment to meet the challenges of the 21st century,'' Wolfowitz said.
Wolfowitz cited the hundreds of shorter-range ballistic missiles that China has stationed across the Taiwan Strait.
``These missiles are clearly designed to project a threatening posture, and to try to intimidate the people and the democratically elected government of Taiwan - so far, I'm happy to say, without much success,'' he said.
Wolfowitz said the Pentagon also is watching closely the modernization of China's navy, which could eventually pose problems for Taiwan.
``Taiwan needs to remain vigilant, and it should commit to increasing professionalism of its military ranks, and increasing jointness among its services to keep pace with potential changes in the security situation in the strait,'' he said.
But I never questioned this report.
It is all over the place. Rense just re-reported them.
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