In a Fortnight
By L.C. Russell Hsiao
TAIWAN'S SUBMARINE PROGRAM: PIPE-DREAM OR NEXT BIG THING?
Several reports appeared in recent weeks in the Taiwanese media about the possibility that President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration has restarted a program to build indigenously designed diesel submarines. According to various reports citing sources close to Taiwan’s National Security Council (NSC), the “Project Diving Dragon,” which is Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program that was aborted five years ago under former President Chen Shui-bian’s administration, may have been re-initiated three months ago under the directive of the NSC. According to a report in the Liberty Times, the NSC reportedly issued an order to the naval military command to conduct a feasibility study on Taiwan’s capability to develop indigenously built submarines (China Post, April 7; Liberty Times [Taiwan], April 15).
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Beijing's Calculated Response to NK Missile Launch
By Willy Lam
China’s soft and quiescent reaction to Pyongyang’s rocket gamesmanship seems to contradict the image of global statesmanship that President Hu Jintao projected at the G20 summit in London earlier this month. And Beijing’s last-minute agreement to a UN Security Council chastisement of the Kim Jong-Il regime has hardly suppressed suspicions that for ideological and other reasons, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership is still reluctant to handle its trouble-prone neighbor—and staunch ally—with the requisite level of toughness. There are also misgivings that the Hu administration has chosen to treat Pyongyang with kid gloves so that it can play the “North Korean card” in future dealings with United States, Japan and South Korea.
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Turkey Trot: Military Cooperation between Beijing and Ankara
By Yitzhak Shichor
In the last week of March 2009, Ankara and Beijing may have taken another step toward upgrading their military cooperation. This has become evident during a visit from General Hasan Aksay, commander of the Turkish military academies, who spent three days in China, starting March 24. To be sure, this was not the first Turkish military visit. Since 1985, Turkey has sent 18 military delegations consisting of some 200 members while 14 Chinese military missions with about 330 representatives visited Turkey at the same time (Today's Zaman, March 25). These are official figures; the real figures are most likely higher, though confidential. These numbers, however, do not tell the whole story of Sino-Turkish military relations.
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Military Parades Demonstrate Chinese Concept of Deterrence
By Dennis J. Blasko
On April 23rd the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy will conduct a “naval parade” in the waters off of Qingdao. This naval review will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the PLA Navy and honor in advance the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which itself will be feted in Beijing on October 1st by another military parade primarily composed of ground and air units. For those impressed by military hardware, April 23rd should be a memorable day.
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An Assessment of Taiwan's Quadrennial Defense Review
By Michael M. Tsai
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) of Taiwan released its maiden “Quadrennial Defense Review" (QDR) on March 16. The report was warranted under provision Article 31 in Taiwan's National Defense Act—which was passed in 2008—and conducted by the Integrated Assessment Office of the MND. The report has to be submitted to the Taiwanese parliament (Legislative Yuan) for review within 10 months of each presidential inauguration. The purpose of the QDR is to outline the country's strategic defense vision for the four-year term of the Taiwanese presidency.
