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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China will have 800 missiles aimed at Taiwan by 2005 |
| 2004-08-10 |
| Tuesday, August 10, 2004 TAIPEI: China will have 800 missiles aimed at Taiwan by 2005, Vice President Annette Lu said on Monday, defending a controversial statement that the island and its giant communist foe were in a state of "quasi-war". That would be a substantial increase from the 500 missiles that Taiwan says China already has set up along its southeastern coast in preparation for a possible military showdown to take back the island it views as a renegade province. "More information has indicated the situation in the Taiwan Strait has entered into a very sensitive stage. I described it as on the verge of a quasi-war," said the outspoken Lu, among Taipei's fiercest critics of China. "Mainland China has accelerated its missile deployment. By next year, the number of missiles will likely reach 800 and it is growing at a speed faster than we have expected," she said in a briefing with foreign media reporters. Lu said her "quasi-war" description last Friday, which prompted President Chen Shui-bian's office to issue a rare denial to cool confrontational rhetoric with China, was an "objective description of the fact". Chen said last November that China has deployed 500 missiles against Taiwan and is adding to them at a rate of one every six days. To meet that threat, he hopes parliament will approve a T$610 billion (US$18 billion) budget to buy US weapons. Lu called for the world to treat the crisis in the Taiwan Strait more seriously. She invited representatives from more than 20 countries to attend a conference in Taipei from August 13 to 15 to discuss democracy and regional security. "We will not provoke China, but we hope China will not take any irrational military actions against us," Lu said. Let's do the math: 800 missiles @ ~$500,000 each = $400,000,000. Time to delete $400,000,000 worth of foreign aid, health care, anti-AIDS funding and whatever other forms of external cash inflow are coming to China. Any money we send them only frees up more spending on missiles. Too bad no one seems able to make this connection while they feed at China's all-you-can-eat cheap labor trough. Taiwan is being knifed on the altar of big business profit and campaign funding by those who make money from trade with China. That would be WalMart, Circuit City, The Good Guys and so many more. This is political hypocrisy at it's sleaziest. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #10 Any thoughts on how many of those 800 missiles would actually work if the order came? NATO dropped 11,650 bombs during the Kosovo campaign. Serbia's air force survived the campaign intact. The US and allied air forces dropped 6,000 bombs on Afghanistan against the Taliban. China's missiles can hit within 500 feet of the target, at best. Each American smart bomb can hit within 50 feet of the target. I seriously doubt that China's missiles are going to do much more than create a big mess - they aren't accurate enough to destroy Taiwan's airfields. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-08-11 00:02 |
| #9 Taiwan let slip a while back that the 3 Gorges dam would be high on its list--kind of the gift that keeps on giving. The first mainland response was utter outrage, then denial that Taiwan could *do* such a thing to their pretty dam, which will last 1000 years. Bye-bye Wuhan and Shanghai. (nice map.) http://www.irn.org/programs/threeg/map.jpg |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2004-08-10 23:58 |
| #8 Any thoughts on how many of those 800 missiles would actually work if the order came? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2004-08-10 23:42 |
| #7 that was my point - if I was Taiwan, I'd have done my best to assue MAD to the politburo themselves or their financial holdings they treasure so much |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-10 22:05 |
| #6 Anybody want to bet Free China does not have a nuclear program? My best guess is that Free China and Japan could have device(s) assembled within two weeks from a "go" signal. They have everything they need, or can buy it Fed Ex overnight. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2004-08-10 21:53 |
| #5 I figure if John Kerry wins the election the Chicoms will see a green light, guaranteeing 2005 will be a most exciting year. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-08-10 21:22 |
| #4 so whadya think? Nukes in the basement? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-10 21:14 |
| #3 Your wish is my command, Frank. Here is some info and a history of Taiwan's nuclear effort. From the posting: Current status Presently Taiwan appears to have heeded the warnings, and there is no evidence that it has engaged in any weaponization research or activities since the late 1980s. It has a robust civilian nuclear power industry consisting of six nuclear units with a total output capacity of over 5,000MW, and it is in the final construction stages for two-1,350MW Lungmen Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWR), a project that is unpopular with local residents and anti-nuclear activists. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-08-10 21:13 |
| #2 hmmmmm - any reactors in Taiwan? Too lazy to google for it...thought somebody here would know off the bat |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-08-10 21:03 |
| #1 Time to bring back the Ground Launched Cruise Missiles and sell them to Taiwan. Cheap, accurate, and with a 1500 mile range, sure to put the fear of Jesus into Mao's successors. |
| Posted by: ed 2004-08-10 20:45 |