Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

voyager1 said:

Here is the top US military general himself saying what we have known for so long

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

This confirms my guess that the PLA is not thinking about invading Taiwan any time soon. Their procurements are not supporting that thinking

Click to expand...

At about 1:30, Lyle J. Goldstein, also from the US Naval War College and a professor, had a very interesting take.

Although, to be fair it was a bit of hyperbole in response to a very ‘lacking’ rebuttal. His other responses are more measured, the full debate/discussion can be found on YT.

steel21 said:

Given that the Taiwan strait is shallow (100m) and relatively short. I can see PLA employing these following measures on top of EW suppression, deception and maybe even IFF disruption (

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

)

Regarding the width of Taiwan strait, for the sake of operation it is really only around 50km, as PLA task force can probably linger just outside of the middle of the strait without providing ROC-N with any provocation for kinetic engagement. Given enough desensitization over multiple exercises, you can probably shrink the engagement range to around 30km.

So how do you preserve security in a area as long as 30km and as shallow as 100m?
1. Use PANAMAX container ship to shield critical task force assets. Devoid of cargo, 40ft container can act as applique armor blocks.
2. Use fishing trawler to "dredge" bottom clearing potential mine.
3. Trail commercial trawling flaps to act as a barrier for torpedoes, around capital ships.
4. Use China vast shipping and fishing and coast guard fleet to clutter the battlespace, potentially soaking up valuable munitions from capital ships.

View attachment 73706

While I am familiar with naval and air systems, I'm a ground pounder at heart, so these speculations are likely pure fantasy.

Click to expand...

Can any naval SMEs give me an assessment on whether using fishing nets and PANAMAX container ships as shields are viable tactics?

tupolevtu144 said:

True. The DPP even butchered the national anthem because of political reasons. The worst was when the DPP actually tried setting up Imperial Japan murals in a ROCAF air base to "commemorate the Imperial Japan air force that was stationed at the same location during ww2". Fortunately the KMT was able to stop them from doing so. But it didn't stop the DPP from naming an originally ROC military-owned building after an Imperial Japan governor that was once stationed in Taiwan...

Personally I am pro-KMT/CCP (id still pick KMT though lol) pro-China and I hate how the DPP regime has single-handedly destroyed all Chinese legacy in Taiwan and brainwashed the people into anti-China pro-Japan pro-US imperalism zombies. In fact they have been so successful at doing so you literally cannot find anyone at my age who doesn't hold the DPP worldview and hate China so much they in fact become racist to Chinese people (exactly like some HKers). Meanwhile they kow-tow to Japan and the US like they've got some kind of inferiority complex. It's a disheartening sight to behold.

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, why are the Taiwanese people pro-Japan? So the invasion of China, the butchering and raping of Chinese people are all good because China as it exist today is run by the commies so the past atrocities are offset by the current political governing body. I can honestly say that thank f..ng God KMT didn't win the Civil War otherwise China would just become another vassalized country lead, dictated in every facet of life, culture, politics, economy by it's western overlord, the U.S. perhaps most Taiwanese would have been okay with that version of reality, but I as a proud Chinese can never ever accept that possibility.

Just out of curiosity, why are the Taiwanese people pro-Japan? So the invasion of China, the butchering and raping of Chinese people are all good because China as it exist today is run by the commies so the past atrocities are offset by the current political governing body.

Click to expand...

Part of the problems is that TI retards have been brain washed to believe they are the descendants of Polynesians, and not Chinese.

The Chinese identity is only reserved for Wei-Shen Ren.

So whatever was done to Chinese on or off the island by Japs, is "their" problem.

Bellum_Romanum said:

Just out of curiosity, why are the Taiwanese people pro-Japan? So the invasion of China, the butchering and raping of Chinese people are all good because China as it exist today is run by the commies so the past atrocities are offset by the current political governing body. I can honestly say that thank f..ng God KMT didn't win the Civil War otherwise China would just become another vassalized country lead, dictated in every facet of life, culture, politics, economy by it's western overlord, the U.S. perhaps most Taiwanese would have been okay with that version of reality, but I as a proud Chinese can never ever accept that possibility.

Click to expand...

There's plenty of sinicized Japanese in Taiwan, estimated at over a million decendents who were relatively well off economically at the end of WW2. Settlers remained on the island when Imperial Japan was defeated. With the efforts of KMT they adopted Han names and Mandarin.

DPP is seen as the grass roots party local to Taiwan, supported by Taiwanese/Hokkien speakers. KMT is seen as the Chinese party. Naturally Japanese decendents will tend to support the non-Chinese identity party and their pro-Japan sentiments will seep into the DPP.

steel21 said:

Yup. There is no magic to counter insurgency. It was fucking amazing it took the US army better part of a decade to figure out that it is a matter of carrots and sticks. When I was a LT in Stryker RSTA back in 2004 to 2005, I told my guys that we needed to eventually sit down with these terrorists, and everyone looked at me like I had a dick growing out of my forehead.

It took thousands of lives and 4 star general to do the fucking obvious.

Click to expand...

I don't know much about military matters, but Mao's advice was that "a guerrilla swims among the people like a fish swims in the sea. Without the support of the people the guerrilla is a fish out of water, it cannot survive". Meaning that guerillas need the local people's willing cooperation and concealment. Maybe the US Army just refused to learn from commies.

When the mainland takes Taiwan, a resistance operation will probably start; the US will certainly try to finance one. But it won't last. Even at the beginning, a signficant percentage of the population (I would guess 20% to 30%) will not be on the guerillas' side -- and that is even before the guerillas do their usual terrorist things. Which means they'll have a high risk of being outed by someone; and it only takes one informer.

Once the guerillas start spilling blood, more people will begin to hate them, which means the guerillas will be even less likely to last.

Unfortunately for the Taiwanese, the PLA suffer none of the disadvantages that the US Joint Force suffer in a expeditionary operation. For one, the general populace knows that China will NEVER leave, and they can rotate as many troops as they need to (there will be economic trade offs). Also, the Chinese agents will look and sound just like them, not some corn fed mofo from Arkansas walking the streets of Tel Afar.

Click to expand...

I suspect ISIS has been intimidating the local people. Until recently, Syria's government was nonfunctional over much of the country, so for the locals there was little point in asking for help -- it would not come.

In contrast, PRC contingents will be *everywhere* in Taiwan, in force, so the guerillas won't be able to intimidate the locals.

Hence, the ability of the guerilla to hide is reduced, as is their support in the general populace, since everyone knows that the PLA will out last the insurgents.

Click to expand...

Agree.

[More military stuff]

Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I don't know enough about the military to respond.

A lot of posts recently... here are some of my observations

Culture:
Talking about culture is never simple, but there are a few different factors at work here.
1. There are actually a lot of Taiwanese that do have aboriginal heritage. I wouldn't say it's totally made up. However, that being said, it is a more recent thing that separatists cite to try to justify a "Taiwanese ethnicity". Putting it into perspective, this is like southerners citing Yue culture to say they are not Chinese. How dumb does that sound?

2. I don't think Japanese descendants are a huge factor. The pro-Japanese identity is something more recent I think spurred on by the younger generation with a poor understanding of history as well as by DPP themselves. Even as recent as the early 2010's there was mass protests against Japan after the Diaoyu Islands confrontations. Also there was a boat collision that killed a HK activist in the 90's, this was a pretty unifying incident for Chinese at the time as mainland, colonial HK, and Taiwan all protested against Japan.
The poor understanding of history basically stems from Japanese colonialism, followed by KMT suppression, followed by DPP suppression. There is basically no objective truth.

DPP has basically rewritten the history books to paint Japan like a wise grandfather. This is because CSB idolized fake-KMT Lee Teng Hui who was an IJA officer and considered himself Japanese. Japanese supporters will point out that a lot of economic development in Taiwan occurred under the colonial rule. Of course this overlooks the fact that resistance was put down and executed. "Native" Taiwanese who say their grandparents fondly remember this time, pretty much fail to realize that most people who did not "fondly remember" the period are probably dead. On top of this, DPP benefits from the KMT's Martial law period, which is a real headache for them as it has blown up into their version of Tiananmen. If you look at the wikipedia page for 228 incident () It is listing 22-28,000 deaths with no citation. Yet most DPP supporters will trot out these numbers.

KMT tried to promote a Chinese history that was not well received by many Taiwanese for the reasons above. They struggle to gain acceptance for their narrative.

Post to be continued...

cont'd

Guerrilla Warfare:
All the conversation taking place is kind of after boots on the ground type scenarios, but consider if the DPP decides to make some kind of move that crosses the line (invitation of US Secretary of State, opening of formal Embassy, etc.), it is likely to upset roughly a quarter of the population (taking the number from those Taiwanese identity surveys). If there is mass civil unrest, then the military would not be able to both manage this and defend against an invasion.

Note I'm not even talking about full independence, as the ROC constitution is written, the DPP would need to allow a full provincial plebiscite and win a majority along with a supermajority taking part.

Furthermore, and let me preface this by saying it is mostly conjecture, perhaps other users can tell me if I'm mistaken, but here is some logic.
1. Most DPP supporters are anti-military because of the negative history.
2. DPP also counts a lot of their support from the younger crowd.
3. Since the end of conscription, the volunteer enlistment is not meeting targets.
From these points above, can we draw a rough conclusion that most fighting-age independence supporters are not interested in fighting?

There is also some ridiculous notion that I gather from reading TI supporters' comments on the internet (very scientific, lol), that fighters will rise up because they will be fighting for national survival/higher cause (‘24 million will fight for freedom!’) over the PLA which is fighting an expeditionary war. What they are not taking into account is that the PLA will not be fighting an expeditionary war. In actuality, they will also feel it is for national survival because forces are trying to break up the nation. Kind of shows you their lack of grasp of history. 100 years of unfinished business, that is what would be on the line.

One final post regarding infrastructure coming...

In a decade or so, the PLA can just swarm Taiwan with autonomous/semi-autonomous loitering munitions, UAS, and armed UGVs.

cont'd

Guerrilla Warfare:
All the conversation taking place is kind of after boots on the ground type scenarios, but consider if the DPP decides to make some kind of move that crosses the line (invitation of US Secretary of State, opening of formal Embassy, etc.), it is likely to upset roughly a quarter of the population (taking the number from those Taiwanese identity surveys). If there is mass civil unrest, then the military would not be able to both manage this and defend against an invasion.

Note I'm not even talking about full independence, as the ROC constitution is written, the DPP would need to allow a full provincial plebiscite and win a majority along with a supermajority taking part.

Furthermore, and let me preface this by saying it is mostly conjecture, perhaps other users can tell me if I'm mistaken, but here is some logic.
1. Most DPP supporters are anti-military because of the negative history.
2. DPP also counts a lot of their support from the younger crowd.
3. Since the end of conscription, the volunteer enlistment is not meeting targets.
From these points above, can we draw a rough conclusion that most fighting-age independence supporters are not interested in fighting?

There is also some ridiculous notion that I gather from reading TI supporters' comments on the internet (very scientific, lol), that fighters will rise up because they will be fighting for national survival/higher cause (‘24 million will fight for freedom!’) over the PLA which is fighting an expeditionary war. What they are not taking into account is that the PLA will not be fighting an expeditionary war. In actuality, they will also feel it is for national survival because forces are trying to break up the nation. Kind of shows you their lack of grasp of history. 100 years of unfinished business, that is what would be on the line there.

One final post regarding infrastructure coming...