World Navies:Taiwan develops indigenous combat capabilities

Navies operate on a spectrum between deterrence and defense, to include offensive operation, support of foreign policy, and power projection to civil affair and humanitarian assistance and disaster response.  Many have constabulary responsibilities, and it could be argued that, with the exception of the largest navies, most are more like a coast guard than a military force in their normal responsibilities.

 

Every Navy is different.  Yes, they all share similar challenges of acquisition, maintenance, manpower, basing, communications, information systems and the usual requirements of a military service, compounded by harsh maritime environment.  Each nation and their navy has a different place to operate in, a different nation and resources to protect, and different threats to protect them from.

 

That’s what makes studying the navies of the world interesting—to see how they have addressed their specific challenges with the resources they have applied to them.

 

The Republic of China (ROC), known to most people as Taiwan, in indisputably dependent upon the maritime do-main. Taiwan must import 98 percent of its energy needs; and almost all of its exports travel by sea.  Across the 100 nm Taiwan Straits is the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and its 1.34 billion people.

 

The PRC has made it known that it intends to “reunify” Taiwan.  But for the rest of the region, Taiwan is the first ob-stacle standing in the path of Beijing’s expansionism.  

 

The comparison between the two China’s is stunning.  The PRC 1.3 billion people makes it the most populous coun-try on Earth, and it is the third largest in area at 9.59 million square miles.  Taiwan, by comparison, has about 23 mil-lion people living in an area of about 13,892 square miles—bigger than Belgium but smaller than Switzerland. And it lies just 100 miles away across the Taiwan Straits.

Taiwan is still able to procure new weapons and hardware from friendly nations, including the U.S.  But owing to its unique status, many nations have imposed restrictions on selling military material to Taiwan.

 

Source:Marine Link

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