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The Republic of China Navy (ROCN), or Taiwan Navy, has an ambitious vision for its future strategy.
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China has added long-range missiles near Taiwan and leads the self-ruled island in military defenses, a U.S. navy official said, suggesting that Taiwan may need new F-16 jet fighters.
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JETS ON THE HORIZON?: Admiral Robert Willard also said Taiwan would need to improve its fighter jet capabilities to counter military imbalances with China By Vincent Y. Chao The top commander of US military forces in the Pacific on Thursday confirmed reports that the Chinese army has been upgrading and deploying larger numbers of missiles across the Taiwan Strait.
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Mar.24 (China Military News cited from xinhuanet) — Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met here Wednesday with Yu Woo-ik, the new ambassador of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to China.

Liang said China-ROK relations have developed rapidly since they forged diplomatic ties in 1992, and hailed the two countries’ steady development in bilateral military ties.

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie(R,front)meets with Yu Woo-ik(L,front),the new ambassador of the Republic of Korea(ROK)to China,in Beijing,capital of China,March 24,2010.

“China is willing to work with the ROK to lift the state-to-state and military ties to a new high,” Liang said.

Facts had proven that a healthy and stable relationship between the two countries and militaries was of great significance to their common development and the regional peace and stability, Liang said.

Liang also briefed Yu on China’s stance on the Taiwan issue.

Yu, once a senior political advisor to ROK president Lee Myung-bak, said he was ready to make his due efforts to push forward the ROK-China relations.

Upon his arrival at the ROK embassy in Beijing last December, Yu delivered a speech on bilateral relations, in which he called on the two countries to lay a firm foundation for the future of bilateral ties.

After Yu assumed office in China, he had met several Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

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Mar.17 (China Military News cited from reuters and Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Ralph Jennings in Taipei) — China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island. Beijing has threatened to attack if Taiwan tries to declare independence.

Following the election of China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan president in 2008, the two sides have signed a series of landmark trade and tourism deals. But military suspicions on both sides remain deep and there has been no progress on political talks.

Relations have strained of late following a U.S. decision earlier this year to sell a new batch of weapons to Taiwan, though China’s anger has been directed more at Washington than Taipei.

“We agree with looking at the issue of setting up a military and security mutual trust mechanism for both sides at an appropriate time,” Yang Yi, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular news briefing.

“This process should progress step by step and in proper order, dealing with the easy first and the hard later.

“For example, it could begin with exchanges between retired military officers and related academics,” Yang said, without elaborating.

China has made similar suggestions in the past, but had not repeated them recently.

The island’s deputy defence minister, Andrew Yang, told Reuters, though, that Taiwan would not pursue military talks any time soon, since it is focussed on a free trade-style deal and building more overall trust with Beijing.

Military talks are unlikely next year as the island ramps up for the 2012 presidential race, he added.

“There’s no policy at the moment, and in the foreseeable future I don’t see a chance to go ahead with that,” Yang said. “It’s not feasible to discuss now. It’s too complex.”

Premier Wen Jiabao offered last year at the annual meeting of parliament to hold political and military talks with democratic Taiwan and sign a peace agreement with the island. Wen did not repeat the offer at this year’s session.

Taiwan says China aims more than 1,000 missiles at it and there has been no sign these are starting to be pulled back, despite a warming of relations.

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In testimony presented before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, David Shlapak discusses how China’s past twenty years of military modernization is tilting the balance of power with Taiwan increasingly in Beijing’s favor, and how this might affect the U.S.
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China has not carried out threats to punish US companies over an arms package to rival Taiwan, a senior US official said Thursday.
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BEIJING, March 17 — China still wants talks on building military and security trust with Taiwan, a spokesman said today, despite Beijing’s anger over recent US arms sales to the island. China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island. Beijing has threatened to attack if …
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China still wants talks on building military and security trust with Taiwan, a spokesman said on Wednesday, despite Beijing’s anger over recent U.S. arms sales to the island.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan –The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Wednesday that it is closely monitoring China’s deployment of missiles at a military airport in Fujian province and the Taiwan public has no need to worry.
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BEIJING (Reuters) – China still wants talks on building military and security trust with Taiwan, a spokesman said on Wednesday, despite Beijing’s anger over recent U.S. arms sales to the island.
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While relations between China and Taiwan are warmer now than in recent years, China still feels entitled to use force to prevent Taiwan from becoming independent. Meanwhile, the modernizing of China’s military may call into question the U.S.’ ability to defend Taiwan against a large-scale Chinese attack.
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SINGAPORE — Not long before U.S. President Barack Obama held his low-key meeting in the White House with the exiled Tibetan leader last month, the Dalai Lama, a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington issued a statement on the talks and the U.S. decision to provide a new package of defensive arms to Taiwan. “China’s positions on issues like arms sales to Taiwan, and Tibet, have been consistent …
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Mar.11 (China Military News cited from Time.com and written by Austin Ramzy) — For the past two decades, China’s rapid economic growth has been twinned with an even more rapid increase in military spending. While GDP has expanded by an annual average of 9.6% over the past 10 years, the reported budget for the People’s Liberation Army has grown by an average of 16%. So it was an unexpected surprise when Li Zhaoxing, a former foreign minister who is now spokesman for the National People’s Congress, announced on March 4 that China’s defense budget would increase by 7.5% for 2010, just over half of last year’s 14.9% rise.

The slowdown was partly attributed the difficult economic climate. While China was able to grow at 8.7% last year, that healthy rate came at the expense of $586 billion in stimulus spending. Last week Premier Wen Jiabao said that government spending would grow more slowly this year as Beijing seeks to control inflation while maintaining stable growth.

Amid those economic demands, another double-digit increase in military spending might be seen as excessive. But perhaps the most compelling reason for the slowdown in spending is that Chinese officials have become more cautious of the way the development of the People’s Liberation Army is perceived abroad. Last year China marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic with an Oct. 1 military parade in front of Tiananmen Square. While generally a cause for celebration in China, the parade of soldiers, tanks and missile carriers was seen as intimidating by many foreign observers.

Chinese military analysts have explained the rapid spending increase as normal for a large nation climbing out of decades of poverty. “Although China now has a growing military demand, it has always upheld the principle of peaceful development. The double-digit increases in the past should be interpreted as compensational growth,” says Zhao Zongjiu, deputy secretary-in-general at Shanghai Institute for International Strategic Studies, a government-backed think tank. “I predict that, given the current policy environment, the growth rate of military expenses will remain roughly on the same level as China’s GDP growth in the next few years.”

China’s 2010 military budget, which is awaiting legislative approval, will be $78 billion. That would make it second only to the United States, which for 2010 has a total budget of $663.8 billion. U.S. spending is equivalent to 4.7% of the nation’s GDP, while China’s defense outlay equals about 1.5% of its estimated 2010 GDP.

But military observers have long cautioned that China’s official defense budget figures shouldn’t be taken at face value, and that actual spending could be two or three times higher than what is reported. China is engaged in a significant number of expensive military equipment development programs, including likely efforts to develop its first aircraft carrier. Those all make it difficult to curtail spending, says Andrei Chang, Hong Kong-based editor-in-chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly. “There are very ambitious military plans for the Chinese,” he says. “This is the reason it’s impossible to have an increase of 7.5%.”

Improving ties with Taiwan have also lessened some of the military tension along China’s periphery. Beijing considers the self-ruled island a breakaway province that should ultimately be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. A more China-friendly leadership in Taipei has helped eased some of the fear of armed conflict. But the region still has the potential to be a flash point. Taiwan says China has some 1,500 missiles stationed along the Taiwan Strait. And a decision by U.S. President Obama in January to approve the sale of more than $6 billion in military equipment to Taiwan has angered the Chinese government, which has postponed some military exchanges with the U.S. in protest.

Chang also notes that China is just two years away from an expected reconfiguration of its leadership. President Hu Jintao is expected to step down, and will want to secure high positions for his political allies. Drastically curtailing defense spending could alienate the military, whose support he needs to ensure top spots for his proteges. “The new round of political power struggle is continuing,” Chang says. “You have to give souvenirs to the armed forces.”

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TAIPEI, Taiwan: China now has better fighter jets than Taiwan, according to a military report by the island’s Ministry National Defense (MND) as the air force yesterday renewed its bid to obtain new F-16s from the United States.
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China now has better fighter jets than Taiwan, according to a military report by the island’s defence ministry which has been unsuccessful in its attempts to seek new F-16 jets from the United States.
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RECENTLY, after the Obama administration announced a substantial arms sales package for Taiwan — one that was almost entirely defensive — China responded vociferously by suspending military exchanges.
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BEIJING, CHINA – A top Chinese Communist Party official said on Wednesday that Beijing was firmly committed to developing peaceful relations with long-time rival Taiwan, despite recent tensions over US arms sales to the island.
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Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou gives a speech to Taiwan businessmen who have invested in China in Taipei February 22, 2010. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang BEIJING, March 3 (Reuters) – A top Chinese Communist Party official said on Wednesday that Beijing was firmly committed to developing peaceful relations with long-time rival Taiwan, despite recent tensions over U.S. arms sales to the island.
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BEIJING, March 3 — A top Chinese Communist Party official said today that Beijing was firmly committed to developing peaceful relations with long-time rival Taiwan, despite recent tensions over US arms sales to the island. China reacted angrily in January after US President Barack Obama’s administration unveiled its first arms package for Taiwan — including missiles, helicopters and mine hunting …
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