What are they so worried about?
The thugs in Peking have got a little tetchy about arms sales by the US to Taiwan:
"China on Tuesday urged the United States to immediately cancel arms sale programs, stop arms sales and military links with Taiwan....China firmly opposes to arms sales by the US government to Taiwan, and had already raised strong objection and solemn representations to the United States, said Liu, noting that this has been a consistent and clear stance of China....Regardless of China's solemn stance and firm opposition, the United States took wrong actions in a row to sell the the P-3C anti submarine warfare aircraft, the Patriot II antimissile equipment upgrade systems and other advanced weapons, Liu said.Such wrongdoing severely violated the US government's commitments made to China in the joint communique signed between the two countries on August 17, 1982, rudely interfered in China's internal affairs, endangered Chinese national security and peaceful unification, also disturbed the improvement and development of China-US relations, Liu stressed".
So, in other words they are not best pleased. I would have thought that the 'People's Republic' would be all in favour of the Taiwanese 'wasting' their money, as I do not think that they are going to be storming the beaches of the mainland any time soon.
Here are some comparisons of military strength:
Standing army manpower
Taiwan - 300, 000
'PR'C - 2,250,000
Fit for military service
Taiwan - 3,870,000
'PR'C - 281,240,272 men (word used advisedly)
"China on Tuesday urged the United States to immediately cancel arms sale programs, stop arms sales and military links with Taiwan....China firmly opposes to arms sales by the US government to Taiwan, and had already raised strong objection and solemn representations to the United States, said Liu, noting that this has been a consistent and clear stance of China....Regardless of China's solemn stance and firm opposition, the United States took wrong actions in a row to sell the the P-3C anti submarine warfare aircraft, the Patriot II antimissile equipment upgrade systems and other advanced weapons, Liu said.Such wrongdoing severely violated the US government's commitments made to China in the joint communique signed between the two countries on August 17, 1982, rudely interfered in China's internal affairs, endangered Chinese national security and peaceful unification, also disturbed the improvement and development of China-US relations, Liu stressed".
So, in other words they are not best pleased. I would have thought that the 'People's Republic' would be all in favour of the Taiwanese 'wasting' their money, as I do not think that they are going to be storming the beaches of the mainland any time soon.
Here are some comparisons of military strength:
Standing army manpower
Taiwan - 300, 000
'PR'C - 2,250,000
Fit for military service
Taiwan - 3,870,000
'PR'C - 281,240,272 men (word used advisedly)
Labels: 'People's Republic' of China, matters military, Taiwan
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 3:03 pm.
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I greatly fear this yawning disparity will become all too evident when China next needs a distraction for its increasingly restive populace
some time shortly after the Olympics, to coincide with an economic setback ?
Ah, no, if you're going to compare standing army sizes. But consider: Taiwan *does not* want to invade China (not since Lee Teng-hui), China on the other hand wants to. Now imagine invading a small island separated from the mainland by choppy waters, that has all sorts of sophisticated weaponry and all the island's men trained for military combat.
Chinese troops would probably never have the chance of landing on Taiwanese soil (well, except for Quemoy and Matsu).
Which leaves China with nukes - though I don't know how they would spin this to their nationalist population: "we're finally reunified with Taiwan, albeit a nuclear wasteland Taiwan!"?
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