VIDEO Taiwan took US aircraft carrier killer and HIMARS. China wants 240 billion worth of weapons

Taiwan got an aircraft carrier killer and HIMARS from the US. China wants 240 billion worth of weapons. Taiwan is building mobile defenses to fight off a possible Chinese landing. The new strategy emphasizes asymmetric warfare as the force gap widens.

Taiwan’s military is changing how it plans to respond to an attack by China’s rapidly growing forces, adopting more mobile equipment to fight back after a landing, instead of focusing solely on repelling a seaborne invasion with firepower.

Taiwan got an aircraft carrier killer and HIMARS from the US. China wants 240 billion worth of weapons

Taiwan’s navy this week took delivery of two carrier killer corvettes, handed over by the shipbuilder 20 months ahead of schedule, in a ceremony presided over by President Tsai Ing-wen, who ordered the construction of the ships.

The ships have stealth capabilities that make detection difficult for Chinese radar systems and are also equipped with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles.

Taiwan now has six corvettes and aims to bring the total to 11 by 2026. The ships are part of a larger trend by Taipei of small, mobile weapons to more effectively counter China’s overwhelming force, according to nike .com.

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The 2023 edition of the National Defense Report from Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense presents an in-depth defense strategy and includes an operational plan that foresees a Chinese troop landing.

The aim is to capitalize on island defenses to block China’s advance, buying time for US support to arrive.

Taiwan will use an asymmetric approach, countering the heavy weaponry of Chinese forces with smaller, more mobile equipment such as corvettes, the report said.

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This marks a shift from a previous strategy of focusing on defending against a Chinese invasion as far away from the main island as possible.

The military has focused on building capabilities to intercept enemies at a distance, deploying large warships and fighter jets to strike Chinese forces in coastal waters in an effort to destroy them at sea.

Photo: Profimedia Images

Beijing has sharply stepped up military spending under President Xi Jinping, who has not ruled out the use of force for unification with Taiwan.

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The central government’s defense budget stands at 1.67 trillion yuan (or $232 billion) for this year, up 7.2 percent from the previous year.

That’s 12 times Taiwan’s defense budget of about $19 billion, meaning it’s virtually impossible for Taipei to field fighter jets or warships on the same scale as Beijing.

The Taiwanese military has accelerated the deployment of HIMARS mobile missile launchers, Javelin anti-tank missiles and smart drones. These relatively small weapons are highly mobile and difficult for China’s satellite network to track.

Mountains over 3,000 meters high

Taiwan’s terrain is also an asset. A mountain range over 3,000 meters high crosses the center of the main island.

If Chinese troops land on the island, the Taiwanese military is looking to draw them deep into these mountainous areas, where it will have a tactical advantage.

This strategy “is based on the Vietnam War, when US forces were long tormented by guerrilla warfare in the Vietnamese jungle,” said a former Taiwanese military officer.