Friday, January 25, 2013

Death From Above

I've long suspected that Chinese paratroopers would have a prominent role in an invasion of Taiwan by dropping on Taiwanese airports. Taiwan has this on their radar screen:

Taiwan held a military exercise Jan. 23 simulating an attempt by rival China to seize an airport in the east, one of the most crucial military establishments in the area, officials said.

The exercise too place at Hualien airbase.

I never understood why there was a mini-boom of speculating on how China would use their growing missile arsenal to bombard Taiwan into surrender. That never made sense to me since it represented a threat that merely had to be endured to be defeated.

Invasion is the only way to settle this decisively if it comes to war. I'm glad Taiwan is practicing. I assume the threat is more likely around Taipei, but practicing anywhere is good.