RAND: China has the upper hand in Taiwan

August 5, 2009 · Posted in Blogroll, Uncategorized

This is going to cause some ruckus…

Steve Trimble reports on a new RAND study that presents China as being far more capable of theater-level combat operations (and with regards to Taiwan in particular) than was the case just 10 years ago:

[…] the cross-strait military balance is shifting in ways that are problematic for Taiwan’s defense: The growing size and quality of China’s missile arsenal, along with other advances in Chinese military capabilities, call into question the United States’ and Taiwan’s ability to defend the island against a large-scale Chinese attack.

Blog/forum regulars are already punching holes through the report for inaccuracies, simplistic assumptions etc. but it is hard to deny the fact of growing Chinese abilities in the theater. Plus the RAND cachet will ensure that this report makes the rounds and gets attention regardless of validity; so worth a read in any case.

Tags: China, Taiwan