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Tiawan needs weapons

Bill Gertz:

Taiwan urgently needs to buy submarines, missile defenses and patrol aircraft to counter the growing threat posed by China's rapid buildup of military forces, a former Pentagon China specialist says.
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Stokes, until recently one of the top China policy-makers at the Pentagon, said the Chinese arms buildup is "extremely serious and growing more serious by the day."
"Since 1999, the People's Republic of China has embarked on a concentrated and aggressive campaign to diversify its options in order to force Taiwan's political and military capitulation in an increasingly brief period of time," Col. Stokes said.

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Col. Stokes said Taiwan needs to buy the eight diesel electric submarines the United States offered several years ago, along with Patriot PAC-3 missile defense systems and P-3 maritime patrol aircraft.
The submarines are needed to thwart China's strategy of conducting a massive first strike on Taiwan at the outset of a conflict.
"China has a relatively weak anti-submarine warfare [ASW] capability, and submarines provide an asymmetrical means to put the [People's Liberation Army's] surface assets at risk," Col. Stokes said, noting that the submarines could thwart China's growing submarine force.

They also need to heavily invest in a missile defense system that can counter some fo the 800 missilis aimed at them from the mainland. They need the capacity to quickly mine approaches that would be used for amphibious assaults. Eight submarines are just a small part of their needs to seriously resist invasion. If they expect the US to offer serious help, they need to get serious about their own defense.