China is threatening Taiwan with missiles
Taiwan wants to return the favor
With its own missiles
Will they deter China?
Welcome to China Uncensored. I’m Chris Chappell.
Taiwan is showered with love.
Recently, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed her love for Taiwan with a
visit—where she talked about the importance of supporting freedom and democracy.
Meanwhile, China expressed its love for Taiwan in the most romantic way they knew how.
With missiles.
That’s romantic, isn’t it? What gal wouldn’t love that for Valentine’s Day?
The PLA launched military exercises off the coast of Taiwan last week.
And those are still going on as of this recording.
From the scale of these exercises, it’s clear they were planned way before US Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week. But that visit was a great excuse to launch some of these.
“China’s biggest ever show of force in the Taiwan Strait. Footage from Chinese state TV claims to
show the military exercises which Taiwan says included 11 ballistic missiles fired into the
sea. The drills were conducted in six areas surrounding Taiwan, three of which overlapped
the island’s territorial waters much closer than during a similar flare-up in the mid-90s. Beijing
says the exercises are a legitimate defense of what China regards as its own territory.”
See? Love.
Because what says “I love you” more than violent displays of
possessiveness and refusing to acknowledge your independence? At this point, China is basically
the bad guy in every Lifetime Original movie.
China even tested its hypersonic missile off the
Taiwan Strait. It’s a missile that can go over five times the speed of sound.
All these missiles could help China’s invasion of Taiwan.
It’s not a matter of if the Chinese Communist Party invades. It’s when.
Kind of like Disney buying the planet. We all know it’s
inevitable. And that a bunch of folks will welcome our new mouse overlord.
China’s holding back at the moment because there are a lot of obstacles. You have the 80-mile long
Taiwan strait, terrain, and an entire population that’s not going to welcome an invasion.
Even small countries can do some serious damage against much larger invaders. Like how Ukraine
is standing up to Russia’s invasion. Taiwan could do the same with China.
But Taiwan wants to deter China from invading in the first place. And do that,
Taiwan wants missiles. Lots of missiles.
See? I told you this would make a great gift!
Taiwan’s been getting some from the US, including hundreds of anti-ship Harpoon missiles.
But it’s not enough. Taiwan has very little international support for military
hardware because China is pressuring so many countries not to help Taiwan.
And that’s why Taiwan wants to build its own missiles.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
Taiwan wants to deter China from invading. And the best way to do that,
is to be so prepared to fight off an invasion, that it’s not worth invading in the first place.
And if you’re thinking, “Wait, isn’t that basically the plot to
that Jennifer Lopez movie Enough?” Yes. Yes it is. Because Taiwan and
China’s relationship can be described by just about any Jennifer Lopez movie.
Deterrence is why Taiwan wants to develop new weapons, including missiles.
That’s their backup plan.
“More than 60 percent of the country’s total military spending will go toward
producing or acquiring anti-ship weapons such as land-based missile systems.”
This includes more than doubling its annual missile production capacity,
from around 200 missiles per year to nearly 500.
To meet this goal, the Taiwanese National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and
Technology aimed to build 34 new facilities to manufacture missiles by the end of June this year.
Many of these missiles are short-ranged for
defensive purposes. These are good for slowing down an amphibious invasion.
Their defense is figuring out
what to expect when you’re expecting… an invasion.
But Taiwan’s looking into missiles that go much further.
One such weapon that Taiwan is developing is called the Yun Feng, or “Cloud Peak”.
It’s a medium-range supersonic cruise missile
powered by a ramjet engine and a solid-fuel booster.
Development for this missile first began in secret after the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis,
when China showered Taiwan with “love.”
Fellas, if your advances are being met with her
developing new weapon technology… it might be time for you to reevaluate.
Cloud Peak managed to avoid public attention until 2012, but even then,
it was only last year that Taiwan’s military officially confirmed the missile’s existence.
Until then, they did a pretty good job of keeping it
Out of Sight.
It’s easy to see why. According to a senior researcher at the Institute for
National Defense and Security Research , “The Yun Feng missile is a key part of
Taiwan’s asymmetric warfare plan to erode China’s combat capabilities.”
And under a project codenamed the “Qilin Project”, Cloud Peak missiles are being
upgraded with dual-use technology to reach as far as Beijing and all Chinese bases south of it.
This can help Taiwan take out distant command bunkers, supply facilities,
runways, and even the Three Gorges Dam.
That’s according to the president of Taiwan’s legislature.
I wonder if China reacted to this the same way every bully reacts when someone stands up to them:
“Dang, why are you being so aggro? I was just messing with ya. Jeez, get a sense of humor.”
Given that China is testing hypersonic missiles,
it’s no surprise that Taiwan also wants hypersonic missiles of its own.
Technically, Taiwan already has missiles that can go at hypersonic speeds—over five times
the speed of sound. For example, its air defense platform has the TK-III, a surface-to-air missile
that can go at hypersonic speeds to defend against aircraft and ballistic missiles.
But what makes new hypersonic missiles special is that they can maneuver in
different directions at high speeds, not just a predictable trajectory.
This makes them much harder for China’s military to defend against.
Probably because the main thing China’s focused
on defending in an invasion of Taiwan is their excuse for why they invaded Taiwan.
“Um… would you believe we’re trying to denazify them?”
Earlier this year, Taiwan had set up a hypersonic missile program office.
Taiwan is the world leader in semiconductor production,
a key component for missile systems. So it’s in a good position to build hypersonic missiles.
This could pose a huge threat to China.
The question is, can Taiwan afford to build up its missiles? It’s not like
they’re expecting a shipment from some kind of
Money Train.
The US is suggesting Taiwan take a slightly different approach.
“The U.S. government [is] urging Taiwan to decrease its focus on some advanced weapons
procurement programs in favor of less flashy but potentially more combat-relevant initiatives.”
There are some valid reasons for this.
Taiwan can’t outspend China’s military industrial complex. It also doesn’t have that many missile
launchers. This is bad news if China manages to destroy all of them in a first-strike offense.
Because it’s not like Xi cares about casualties.
Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Some military experts suggest Taiwan should focus on the
ability to strike back with abundant small, cheap weapons to deter China.
If you want to learn more about that, check the link to this episode below.
In the end, though, there’s one thing more important than which weapons Taiwan builds.
And that’s whether foreign governments—like the US, Japan, and Australia—have the guts
to clearly state their willingness to defend Taiwan. There’s no better deterrent than that.
And so you know, China Uncensored is supported mainly through direct
viewer contributions—mainly on the crowdfunding website Patreon. And as a perk for contributing
a dollar or more per episode, you can get one of your questions answered by me on the show.
Today’s question comes from...
Patreon supporter Matthew Pengelly. “Hi, I’m an Aussie and I just wanted to get your insight on
our political situation. Is Australia in a better position against China now with
our new Labor government, or are we now more vulnerable to China's influence because of our
change of government. Were we better off with the liberals foreign policy?” Cheers mate!
Good question, Matthew.
If you align with one party, it’s easy to think the “other” party is worse on China. This
perspective is actually pushed by politicians, who are constantly trying to smear each other.
Kind of like Donald Trump criticizing Nancy Pelosi for her visit to Taiwan.
This is despite saying how he was tough on China. And Trump of course was also
Made in Manhattan
So with Australia, let me put it this way:
Labour Party Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was very much in favor of friendly relations with China.
But then Liberal Party Prime Minister Tony Abbott was *also* in favor of
friendly relations with China. In 2015, he signed that free trade agreement.
That was just the political climate at the time—the whole “China is our friend” idea.
Things started to change around 2018, when a bunch of scandals broke that showed how
Chinese billionaires were basically buying off Australian politicians.
2018 was also when Clive Hamilton published Silent Invasion. It exposed the Chinese
Communist Party’s infiltration into the Australian government at all levels, and in both parties.
The government began to take action,
like by passing a law that finally stopped Chinese money in Australian elections.
So the whole climate shifted. Then it shifted even more when China launched a trade war on
Australia in 2020 after Australia called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19.
Now during that time, there were two Liberal Prime Ministers in a
row. So it’s easy to see these two leaders as being tough on China,
and link it with their Liberal Party politics. Maybe there’s some truth to that.
But I also see signs that new Labour Prime Minister Anthony
Albanese will be tougher on China than previous Labour leaders were.
For example, one of the first things Albanese did after taking office was join the Quad meeting with
Japan, the US, and India. The main focus was dealing with China getting more aggressive.
So I suggest that no matter who’s in power, keep pushing your leaders to stand up to the
Chinese Communist Party. Ultimately, in a democracy, politicians feel pressure to do
what the people want. So as part of the people, make sure to tell your leaders how you feel.
Thanks for your question, Matthew.
And thank you to everyone else who supports China Uncensored. Your financial contributions are the
main thing that keeps this show going. Visit Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored to learn more.
You can also support us through Locals,
which is more of a social media format. Visit chinauncensored.locals.com.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thanks for watching China Uncensored.