US approves $180m sale of advanced torpedoes to Taiwan;

Al Jazeera ^ | 05/21/2020

[SeekAndFind]

The United States approved a $180m sale of heavyweight torpedoes to Taiwan, the State Department said on Wednesday, in a move that is likely to further strain ties between Washington and Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own.

Approval for submarine-launched weapon sale comes on same day President Tsai Ing-wen was inaugurated for a second term.

The US framed the sale as a mutually beneficial transaction.

"This proposed sale serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient's continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability," the State Department said.

The sale "will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region," it added.

The MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight torpedoes, which can be launched from submarine are being provided from existing US Navy stock, the State Department said.

China pressure

Taiwan has evolved into one of Asia's most vibrant democracies since the end of China's civil war when the losing Nationalists retreated to the island to set up a rival government to the Communists on the mainland.

Beijing, however, continues to see Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its aims.

Washington cut diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979 in order to recognise the government in Beijing as China's only legitimate ruling body, but it is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and remains the island's main supplier of weapons.

The US announcement came on the same day that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen took her oath of office for a second time, indicating that while Taiwan and China should talk, she would never accept China's claims of sovereignty over the island.

[SeekAndFind]

It is also reported that.... Meanwhile, China stepped up military drills in the contested waters near Taiwan in response to the inauguration, which further involved flying PLA fighter jets into Taiwan's airspace.

[usconservative]

Suck it, China.

You LIED about the Wuhan Virus. Payback time.

[11th_VA]

They’re going to need Kaiten suicide subs to fight Red China .. Just sayin ...

[mad_as_he$$]

WOW! Fat shaming of torpedoes! what’s next?

[libh8er]

Sink those Chinese ships.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: They’re going to need Kaiten suicide subs to fight Red China .. Just sayin ...

If Taiwan thinks that she can win a war against China, she’s being unrealistic. Not that China is right if she were to invade. China is wrong and will the evil that is her regime. But this is just the reality — an Island of 23 million simply cannot win in a war against an invader with 1.4 million people.

The best Taiwan can do is inflict pain on China, but in the end, if China decides to invade, Taiwan will be occupied, unless we, the USA get involved. But then , who’s to say that Russia won’t get involved?

AN invasion of Taiwan will force the world to choose sides and we will have in effect, another world war.

[mylife]

Ye olde MK-48 has been around for a loooong time.

[SeekAndFind]

Two Typos —

Will expose the evil regime that China has.

An invader with 1.4 BILLION people.

[BenLurkin]

[mylife]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_48_torpedo

[dp0622]

That fear of Russia is what caused the Korean war to be a tie. Russia and their nukes. I don’t know why people think Russia wants to get involved in every single battle that happens in the world. They’ve got nothing to gain by interfering in a battle for Taiwan.

there are not going to use nukes because it’s not their land being attacked. And what are they going to do send in their formidable Navy?

[ASA Vet]

You don’t believe Taiwan has nukes?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: You don’t believe Taiwan has nukes?

I don’t know, has Taiwan ever tested their nukes like the other nuclear countries in the club have?

Many people claim that Israel has nukes as well, but I’ve never read anything about them testing it.

[wbarmy]

I agree with you on the impossibility of Taiwan winning a war. But it can be and should be a Pyrrhic victory of epic proportions.

Those straits should be so filled with Chinese ships and planes that their army could walk to Taiwan.

And the rest of the world might open their eyes to the “evil” of the CCP.

[bert]

You seem knowledgeable.

What is the difference between a Heavy Weight torpedo and a MK 48 torpedo? Are there light weight torpedoes?

[Joe Boucher]

I believe many years back a detonation happened in the south Indian ocean that no one took responsibility for.
At the time it was believed to have been a secret Israeli operation.

[Zhang Fei]

[The best Taiwan can do is inflict pain on China, but in the end, if China decides to invade, Taiwan will be occupied, unless we, the USA get involved. But then , who’s to say that Russia won’t get involved?]

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China cannot defeat Taiwan conventionally for as long as the US is willing to resupply the island. The issue isn’t population differences but the ability to bring enough men and equipment into a confined initial invasion objective without being destroyed before they can advance further. Fortifications were how the Templars were able hold off besiegers 30x their size at Krak des Chevaliers. Basically, the 100 mile Taiwan Strait between China and Taiwan, combined with the rugged nature of even the feasible invasion sites, is all the fortification the Taiwanese need. People have run simulations factoring in terrain problems, and it’s really hard to see how the Chinese manage to overrun the island even without US air and naval intervention, assuming US resupply. With US air and naval intervention, Chinese invasion forces would be completely routed.

[Trumpisourlastchance]

China can take Taiwan within a month. And I expect they will if things don’t simmer down.

Another war in Asia will further bankrupt us.

[Zhang Fei]

[That fear of Russia is what caused the Korean war to be a tie. Russia and their nukes. I don’t know why people think Russia wants to get involved in every single battle that happens in the world. They’ve got nothing to gain by interfering in a battle for Taiwan.

there are not going to use nukes because it’s not their land being attacked. And what are they going to do send in their formidable Navy?]

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Nobody’s going to use nukes against an enemy with the ability to reply with nukes. The reason is simple - nuclear first use means all-out nuclear war. Losing a small or even a big of chunk of land is no reason to risk losing tens or hundreds of millions of people. Once a nuclear exchange starts, the end game is genocidal extinction, as each power tries to kill every last one of the other side to avoid getting nuked again by remnants of the other side that manages to roust up more of these things to launch a few more. (It’s the nuclear equivalent of the Mozambique drill). Because the alternative is being made extinct. And that’s why the Russians won’t get involved, until the very end, when they will invade and annex the territory that has no remaining nukes.

[Zhang Fei]

[China can take Taiwan within a month.]

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Based on decades of reading on this subject, I’d have to disagree.