Posted on 03/08/2005 7:48:44 PM PST by crushelits
China Steps Up Pressure on Taiwan
BEIJING (AP) - China unveiled a law Tuesday authorizing an attack if Taiwan moves toward formal independence, increasing pressure on the self-ruled island while warning other countries not to interfere. Taiwan denounced the legislation as a ``blank check to invade'' and announced war games aimed at repelling an attack.
The proposed anti-secession law, read out for the first time before the ceremonial National People's Congress, doesn't say what specific actions might invite a Chinese attack.
``If possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, the state shall employ nonpeaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,'' Wang Zhaoguo, deputy chairman of the NPC's Standing Committee, told the nearly 3,000 legislators gathered in the Great Hall of the People.
Beijing claims Taiwan, split from China since 1949, as part of its territory. The communist mainland repeatedly has threatened to invade if Taiwan tries to make its independence permanent, and new law doesn't impose any new conditions or make new threats. But it lays out for the first time legal requirements for military action.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.netscape.cnn.com ...
Yeah that thing is huge. Even a carrier would be heavily damaged by that. Outranging the Sunburn by 35% would make the Sunburn look like a pistol while the HF3 a rifle. The US needs some of these once they are manufactured or develop our own (even better). We need a new missile that can out perform whatever the Chinese or Russians have.
Heh, gotta like that line...
"whose acoustic profile can be tracked from Mars " Hope they don't get any better too.
That was me. Six weeks from design to deployment has been the guesstimate of pretty much every analyst I've read.
Six days is what it would take to make one if we gave them the plans and they were in a hurry.
They are building atleast 3(& possibly 5 overall) new SSBNs with performance specs not too different from American or Russian SSBNs-16 long range missiles etc.Those subs will be big force multipliers & they can safely be expected to be far quieter than the 'Xia' class given the lessons that the PRC has already learnt & possible Russian involvement.
Have they upgraded their Lafayettes with a VLS? those ships didn't come equipped with a VLS to start with & had arguably the worst naval SAM ever,the Sea-Chapparal.I don't think it would be possible to mount sufficient number of SM-2s or SM-3s on those ships given their relatively small deck size & anyway were meant for the ASW role.
My Jane's subscription has run out, but last I checked they were in the process of installing Mk41 VLS systems on the things.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/taiwan/kang-ding.htm
They do have eight Perry-class frigates, each of which mounts a 40 round Mk 13 launcher that feeds SM1's and Harpoons. I do not know if they are able to use SM3s on these.
While the US is busy in Iraq...
Sun-Tzu would be proud of the new generals
As someone else pointed out, this is going to be a naval and air fight. And while our Army and Marines are tied up, the Navy and Air Force are sitting around doing nothing and getting bored.
If they are mounting a VLS on their Kang Dings,It will probably be a 16 or 32 cell system for anti-sub rockets & SAMs.Given the role that the ships performs,I think an ESSM makes much more sense than an expensive SM-2 Blk-3.By any standards,without expensive sensor upgrades,they can't exloit the full spectrum of Standard missile capabilities.
From what I have read,conventional "arm" missile launching systems can't fire anything more than an early generation SM-2 missile(I think the Italian navy uses such systems).
During Japanese operations against China following the Marco POlo bridge "incident", some japanese warplanes attacked and sunk the USS Panay, a gunboat patrolling on the Yang Tse Kiang river.
The Imperial Japanese government presented excuses (the attack was known in the US because among the survivors was a cameramen who had taken shots of the japanese planes), claimed it was a mistake due to an incorrect identification of the ship, and gave a hefty sum of money to the victims' families.
The accidental nature of the attack was - and still is - very much in doubt, since the Panay was flying the Old Glory and the planed attacked the gunboat several times from a low altitude.
"This is just plain baloney..china has had several chances for the past 56 years to attack taiwan..and they have no plans now..especially with this President in office..it is just sabre rattling which will be forgotten shortly.."
i am not so sure
the first time they assembled an attack force Ike sent in aircraft carriers to the taiwan strait.
in the early 90s Clinton did the exact same thing when China began it's "war games" in the strait
now with Bush in office i doubt they will do anything short term but you never know
these guys think that the "middle kingdom" will dominate and it is only a matter of time
once they think they will win they will attempt some sort of invasion or coup d'etat
Ah. Taiwan is, in a sense, just a line in the sand. That it is a major high-tech & manufacturing trading partner is a great bonus and a great place to draw the line, but you're indicating ultimately the US defending Taiwan is not about defending Taiwan, it's about drawing a line on much bigger barely-discussed issues.
The UN needs to get involved here
"Wouldn't our armed forces be spreading too thin?"
A couple or three Carrier battle groups sitting between the main land and Tiwan would be all that's necessary to ensure China does nothing.
This would not tie down our troops very much at all.
What, the dictator protection league?
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