Taiwan report sounds alarm over China hybrid warfare capabilities

yong · Post by **yong** » Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:16 am

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Intern ... 1&si=44594

Taiwan report sounds alarm over China hybrid warfare capabilities
Taipei warns it will counterattack if Chinese forces enter territorial waters or airspace

This Taiwanese air base on the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait is on high alert amid China's ongoing provocations. (Photo by Yu Nakamura)
YU NAKAMURA, Nikkei staff writerSeptember 1, 2022 00:09 JST

TAIPEI -- China plans to use hybrid warfare, including cyberattacks and disinformation along with conventional armed forces, in its efforts to unify Taiwan with the mainland, the Taiwanese defense ministry warns in a new report.

The annual report on Chinese military capabilities finds that Beijing is already capable of using electronic warfare to damage Taiwanese infrastructure and cut off some military communications.

It also expresses concern over military buildup around the Taiwan Strait and notes that China has been expanding military airfields along the coast within its Eastern Theater Command, which covers Taiwan, and the Southern Theater Command, which includes the South China Sea. The report was submitted Wednesday to the Legislative Yuan.

In a news conference that day, the ministry discussed the recent state of so-called gray zone operations by China -- tactics that aim to harm Taiwan without going as far as an armed attack. It confirmed that Chinese drones have repeatedly flown near areas including the Kinmen Islands -- Taiwan-controlled islets near the Chinese mainland.

If Chinese military aircraft or ships come within 12 nautical miles of Taiwan, Taipei will "exercise the right of self-defense," said Maj. Gen. Lin Wen-huang, head of planning at the defense ministry.

Taiwan fired warning shots Tuesday at Chinese drones flying near the Kinmen Islands -- a first for Taipei in this context.

Amid mounting pressure from Beijing, Taiwan's government proposed Aug. 25 a record defense budget of 586.3 billion New Taiwan dollars ($19.3 billion) for 2023, a 13.9% increase from this year.

xandreu · Post by **xandreu** » Thu Sep 01, 2022 12:15 pm

I can't help but wonder what an alien race would make of us and our abject desire to destroy one another. It's as if we just can't help ourselves. Like rapists, murderers and paedos often claim they can't help their natural desires, the human race seems to have a natural desire to destroy each other, and in time, itself as a species. And for what? Because some people believe that a piece of land and its inhabitants belong to them. And if they don't comply, the claimants will risk destroying the earth and every living thing on it, believing they have the sole right to bring to an end a 4.5 billion year natural process.

Because a small island wants to preserve its right to govern itself.

It's so depressingly pathetic when you think about it.

orichá · Post by **orichá** » Thu Sep 01, 2022 12:49 pm

Xandreu, it is hard to understand how ideas can kill, but they do. Why not think of it this way... George Santayana once said that "all life is combustion." Aliens are probably the same as us that way...

Other quotes by George...

“Only the dead have seen the end of war”
—Soliloquies in England, Scribner’s, 1922, p. 102.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
—Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner’s, 1905, p. 284.

“Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim”
—Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner’s, 1905, p. 13.