Comment: How many preparations do you make in the face of the potential attack Taiwan

Source: Voice of Germany

Author: William Yang

The US military confidential documents leaked a while ago made people doubt about Taiwan's air defense capabilities and believed that it could not resist potential attacks.However, experts point out that Taiwan still has some powerful defense systems.

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As a confidential document leaked by the Washington Post quoted a 21 -year -old US Air Force Militarian member, Taiwan will be difficult to deal with air strikes from mainland China, which has made Taiwan's air defense capabilities focus in recent weeks.

This document leaked in April mentioned that Taiwanese officials suspect that their air defense system can "accurately detect missile launch from mainland China", and Taiwan's military aircraft do not have enough "full task ability".The document also emphasized that Taiwan's fighter jets may become the goal of missile attacks in mainland China, because it takes at least a week to transfer them to a safe place.

The Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan said that the US media reported that "it is not a fact", and emphasized that Taiwan has properly modified the combat plan, and also continued to strengthen its military preparation.Some analysts said that the leaked documents underestimated Taiwan's "powerful" missile defense capabilities.Tony Hu, a senior director of the Ministry of Defense China, Taiwan and Mongolia Office, said that Taiwan's long -range warning radar and space warning can be found in a few seconds.Command control system.

Can Taiwan be able to fight a large number of Chinese military aircraft?

Nevertheless, people still have some doubts about the island's overall air defense capacity. One of the reasons is the huge scale gap between mainland China and the Taiwan Air Force.According to the ranking of military capabilities of various countries based on the military website "Global FirePower": The PLA has more than 3,000 military aircraft and nearly 400,000 air force personnel, while Taiwan has only more than 700 military aircraft and more than 30,000 air force soldiers.

But experts told DW that although mainland China ’s advantages in air strength can suppress air defense in some areas of Taiwan, Taiwan can use air defense missiles to resolve the gap.Su Ziyun, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Defense Security, pointed out: "In the Ukrainian war, although there is a huge gap in the number of military aircraft in Ukraine and the Russian Air Force, Ukraine can use short -range stab missiles to obtain some air defense capabilities."

Because Taiwan has remote, medium and short -range air defense missiles, Su Ziyun believes that this is helpful for the formation of island air defense capabilities.He said: "Although they only have short -range missiles, Ukraine has done a good job in air defense. Taiwan has a wider air defense missile, so I believe that it can be done better in terms of air defense."

According to the data released by the Washington Think Tank Strategy and International Research Center (CSIS) in 2021, Taiwan's missile plan is mainly composed of six different range of missiles: Tianjian, Xiongfeng Type Type, Xiongfeng Type 3, Wanjian, Xiongfeng 2nd IIE and Yunfeng.In addition, there are Tiantong missiles, which are land -to -air -to -ball missiles developed by Taiwan.Although Taiwan has restricted its missile forces in defense in the past, CSIS pointed out that the island has begun to develop missiles designed as cracking down mission.

Looking forward to the support of the United States

Although Taiwan can fight against the military advantage of mainland China through investment in air -to -air missiles, some studies have shown that the PLA's efforts to make the Air Force's modernization are being achieved.According to a blog post published in February, the Institute of International Strategy (IISS) said that the institute's annual evaluation data of the military capabilities of 173 countries showed that the PLA is accelerating the expansion of the fighter group.According to data from the Institute of International Strategy, the PLA Air Force now has more than 600 aircraft deployed in 19 front-line combat brigades, and the annual production speed of combat aircraft such as J-20 has doubled in the past three years.

Hu Zhendong, an official of the first Pentagon, told DW that Beijing has achieved success in production new combat aircraft, including the J-35 stealth fighter.He said that this shows that "the great growth of China's capabilities is a concerned issue."

But Hu Zhendong also added that the progress of mainland China in producing a large number of combat aircraft may not be enough to reverse the situation of Taiwan, because Taiwan also has aircraft and other systems provided by the United States to help support Taiwan's combat capabilities.As a part of strengthening Taiwan's air defense capabilities, the Taiwan Ministry of Defense signed two parts worth of about $ 420 million (S $ 562 million) on April 21 this year, which can be used to maintain Taiwan's fighters.

In addition, Hanxiang Aviation Industry (AIDC), one of the national defense contractors, said earlier this month that Taiwan is seeking US support to create the next fighter developed by itself.Hu Kaihong, Chairman of Hanxiang, said: "We hope that the United States will support Taiwan to develop its own fighter aircraft, including engines, aviation electronic equipment, control systems, environmental control, etc. These are all opportunities for Taiwan and the United States to cooperate."

A frightened scary from mainland China

Although experts such as Hu Zhendong and Su Ziyun believe that Taiwan ’s air defense capabilities can resist the air strikes of mainland China to a certain extent, they also expressed concern about the continuous activities of mainland China in Taiwan’ s surrounding gray areas.Taiwan's air defense identification zone, as well as the increasingly frequent blockade military exercise around Taiwan.

Since April 2023, mainland China has increased the frequency of the gray zone around Taiwan, including a three -day blockade military exercise around Taiwan.McCarthy's response.In addition, the PLA also showed new tactics and deployed operations drones around Taiwan.Du Zhenyi, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Defense and Safety, mentioned: "Beijing is being displayed, and drones have become part of their action in the gray area."

Hu Zhendong, an official of the first five -horn building, warned that the main purpose of mainland China in Taiwan was to instill the concept of "failureism" to the people of Taiwan, while affecting the island's air defense preparation status and ability.He said: "War is already carried out, because the primary goal of mainland China is to keep pressure to scare the people of Taiwan."

Hu Zhendong added that allowing the Taiwan Air Force to drive new military planes to intercepting mainland Chinese aircraft may disrupt their usual training and increase the cost of maintaining aircraft.He said: "Taiwan should consider using the upcoming military aircraft to intercept and recruit retired pilots to perform these tasks."

In order to better cope with the increasing risk of potential cross -strait conflicts, Hu Zhendong believes that in addition to formulating a response plan for mainland China, Taiwan should also ensure sufficient war reserve supplies at the same time.He told DW: "It is very important to ensure that the necessary supplies in Taiwan are in place."