Friday, March 07, 2014

DPP Blue Paper on Defense

EastCoastMar2014170
The east coast south of Chenggong.

The DPP put out its latest Defense Blue Paper, laying out its defense policy. Defense News notes:
In a marked departure from past efforts, the opposition party’s think tank, New Frontier Foundation, released a remarkable report on China’s military ambitions against Taiwan.
...

“China’s Military Threats Against Taiwan in 2025” is the fifth in a series of “blue papers” produced by the DPP think tank on defense issues, but it is the first to produce substantive research on the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) modernization efforts and Chinese military programs aimed at waging a successful war to take the island. Past reports have been amateurish and disappointing.

....

The report states that Taiwan must raise its defense budget “to the level of 3% of GDP” and build an effective “national defense with Taiwanese characteristics.” Taiwanese characteristics emphasizes relying more on domestic defense industry sources for military arms and equipment.

The report also argues that Taiwan should reverse-engineer the two Dutch subs it has and build its own underwater deterrent. I wonder if the Japanese, whose position towards China is hardening, might not be amenable to selling a couple of previous generation subs to the US which could then transfer them to Taiwan...

The Defense News summary is good. I put the original online: Link to PDF
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