Taiwan's Precarious Military

If speakers at a recent conference in D.C. are to be believed, then Taiwan's military and security seem to be in a precarious position.

Thomas J. Bickford noted that China's People's Liberation Army has continually been upgrading both its hard and software, including integrating its IT and digital battlefield with its weapons system.

In short, Bickford, who is from the Center for Naval Analysis Corporations, contended that China's military had become much more capable.

But Taiwan, on the other hand, suffers from a lack of strategic depth that works against the island. It is easy to target, and does not have much space for command centers. The island also needs a better anti-air and missile defence. Taiwan also suffers from a lack of strategic coherence in planning and is poor at joint operations.

What makes security in Taiwan precarious, according to Elizabeth Hague, is the island's intense factionalism, President Chen Shui-bian's personalized decision-making system, and the high turnover of its defence ministers.

Hague, from RAND Corporation, said Taipei needs to put in place a more institutionalized decision-making process, ensure better coordination between the various branches of government, and bring about greater expertise in military and security among civilian decision-makers.

University of Richmond's Vincent Wang noted that security had been relegated to secondary importance, given the low mutual trust between civil servants and politicians. The increase expenditure on social welfare had also come at the expense of military spending.

Shirley Kan from the Congressional Research Service, on the other hand, noted that Taipei has no sense of urgency about self-defence, lacks consensus, and has a weak leadership. Indeed, the island is in the process of self-marginalization through acts such as withdrawing pilots from training in Arizona.