In the area of advanced multirole fighters alone, the People’s Republic of China imported 100 Su-30MKK/MK2s over the past eight years, whereas Taiwan did not purchase any new combat aircraft. Nor did it procure any surface warships or submarines, except for one retired Keelung Class DDG from the United States. Taiwan virtually wasted the [...]

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Taiwan had the opportunity to buy arms for several years, but chose not to do so because of internal conflict. A little more than half the island preferred to spend money on social programs instead of expensive military equipment.
From the article:
US says there is no pressing and compelling need at this moment for arms sales [...]

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China cannot allow Taiwan to remain independent. The very existence of the communist Chinese government is threatened by Taiwan.
From the article:
The U.S. Defense Department says China is adding more than 100 missiles a year to the estimated 1,000 it has targeting Taiwan. Hundreds of thousands of troops are based opposite Taiwan, it said, and hundreds [...]

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Taiwan began Monday its annual computer-simulated war game that anticipates an invasion by China, despite warming ties between the island and its mainland rival.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense Spokeswoman Lisa Chi said the Hankuang war game will last five days, but she declined to offer further details. Hankuang means Chinese glory.
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Video: Pawn of the [...]

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Although in many respects the situation in the Taiwan Strait appears to be improving, China’s military actions do not reflect this apparent trend. In fact, China has reinforced its troops on the Shandong Peninsula, opposite Korea, where they would engage U.S. and Japanese troops should they attempt to support Taiwan in the event of a [...]

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And China has marked the superficial thaw in relations by deploying at its Leping Ballistic Missile Base in Jiangxi province about 200 of a new and improved version of its DF-15 tactical missiles aimed at Taiwan.
So these advances in cross-straits relations, as welcome as they are, are the first steps on a long and difficult [...]

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Chinese President Hu Jintao said here Friday the long journey to better ties with Taiwan was off to a good start, after the rivals signed historic agreements to set up direct flights and boost tourism.
Seeking to put aside decades of hostility that made the China-Taiwan relationship one of the world’s most dangerous potential military [...]

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China has been steadily stepping up fighter plane patrols in the Taiwan Strait, according to the Ministry of National Defense?? (MND) annual national defense report released yesterday.
The report said that while Chinese fighters patrolling the Strait made about 400 sorties per year before 1998, there were 1,500 sorties in 2001 and 1,700 in 2005.
The figures [...]

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The United States Air Force had considered a plan to drop nuclear bombs on China during a confrontation over Taiwan in 1958 but it was overruled, declassified documents showed Wednesday.
When he learned about it, President Dwight Eisenhower instead required the Air Force to initially use conventional bombs against Chinese forces if the crisis escalated, according [...]

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Communist China has tried mightily to put on a friendly face for the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. But with China’s thuggish military occupation of Tibet on display to the world, the regime in Beijing is showing its true colors.
Tibetans being killed in the streets by Chinese security forces, while bad enough on its [...]

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Obviously the United States and other countries objected. For the record, no less than six sovereign states lay claim to these islands. In 1996, China illegally laid claim to the entire South China Sea.
These illegal strategic moves by China, when coupled with its rapid strategic and conventional, including amphibious, force modernization plans are cause for [...]

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In an article published in Taiwan-based newspaper China Times, a staff news reporter in Shanghai asked the views of China’s Generation Y—those born between 1981 and 1995—in China’s bustling metropolis, following Taiwan’s presidential election on March 22, about their views toward Taiwan and Tibet. The interviews revealed some dramatic changes in perceptions held by the [...]

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China has aimed far more missiles at Taiwan than previously reported, according to US officials with access to military intelligence. This disclosure comes as China enters a troubling and potentially dangerous time intensified by recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibetan areas.
The officials say China has 1,400 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan.
That is 40 percent more than earlier [...]

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Shipping Snafu Sends ICBM Parts to Taiwan
Wired News - 9 hours ago
By Sharon Weinberger March 25, 2008 | 1:03:03 PMCategories: Eye on China, Missiles Well, it’s not as bad as mistakenly sending nuclear-armed cruise missiles …
US says missile parts mistakenly sent to Taiwan Los Angeles Times
US accidentally sends Taiwan missile parts Radio Australia
US sent nuclear missile [...]

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Just days before Taiwan’s presidential vote, a top Chinese military officer said Beijing’s concern over the island’s independence movement is spurring China’s military buildup.
In an interview with Germany’s Spiegel Online, naval officer Chen Zhou said: “We will defend our sovereignty with all means. If, in fact, we are forced to stop a secession attempt (in [...]

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The carrier Kitty Hawk has left its port in Japan, Taiwan’s defense ministry said Wednesday amid reports the group is deploying near the Taiwan Strait to ensure that Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election Saturday runs smoothly.
“We can confirm that the USS Kitty Hawk left port yesterday,” Taiwanese defense spokeswoman Chi Yu-lan said by phone. “As to [...]

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While Asia-watchers are focused on the crisis at Tibet, a drama is quietly unfolding on Communist China’s opposite flank, the free Chinese republic on Taiwan, which is preparing for a presidential election scheduled for Saturday. In 1996’s election, China responded with days of missile “tests” in advance of the plebiscite. The “tests” consisted of lobbing [...]

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Chinese military officials have urged combat readiness in efforts to reunify Taiwan, just days after the government announced a 17.6 percent rise in defense spending, state press said Friday.
“Preparations for military struggle shall be continued, which is now the most important, practical and imperative task,” Xinhua news agency quoted Jing Zhiyuan, a People’s Liberation Army [...]

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Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian said the island had beefed up defense spending against rival China’s threat, while the mainland announced a nearly 18 pct funding increase for its military.
‘In order to strengthen our self-defense capabilities and facilitate the modernisation of weapons and military equipment, the government has budgeted 349.5 bln twd Taiwan dollars (11.27 [...]

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China continues its huge military buildup opposite Taiwan, further pushing the balance of power between the two rivals toward the mainland’s favor, the Defense Department says in its annual report on China’s military.
Although the Taiwan Strait remains stable, China is adding more than 100 missiles a year to the estimated 1,000 it has targeting the [...]

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This latest round of heightened tensions across the strait has once again raised fears of armed hostilities between China and Taiwan, with all the geopolitical repercussions that would have for the United States and its allies in the Pacific Rim. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte, in an interview with CFR.org, says the United [...]

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