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<a href= http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0423_BC_Taiwan'sNewWorry&&news&newsflash-international >Taiwanese Military Focusing on High-Tech Warfare Threat from China
Monday, July 29, 2002
(1:37 AM ET)
By William Ide
Associated Press Writer

Not only is electronic warfare given prominent space in the 324-page
defense white paper, it's also getting more cash, the document says. Two years ago, 25 percent of Taiwan's $1.8 billion research and procurement budget went to electronic and information warfare, the military said. Now its share has been increased to 32 percent.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- AP
Taiwan used to worry only about an old-fashioned invasion from rival China, with Chinese soldiers sailing to storm the beaches and impose communist rule.

Now, the island says its defense focus is having to shift to more futuristic threats: Internet viruses, killer satellites, electromagnetic pulses that could fry computer networks vital to Taiwan's defense and economy.

Electronic warfare wasn't seen as a top threat when the military issued its biennial national defense report two years ago. But in the 2002 defense review released last week, such tactics topped the list of concerns, ranking above air and sea defense.

Military analysts say the added focus is a sign that both Taiwan and China are adapting to the demands of modern warfare and learning from U.S. experiences in the Gulf War, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

"Both sides have learned from the past few wars that information warfare is key to winning a war," said Holmes Liao, a military analyst at the Taiwan Research Institute's Division of Strategic and International Studies.

Although Taiwan has functioned as a sovereign nation since the communists won control of the Chinese mainland in 1949, the Beijing regime considers the island "an inalienable part" of China and frequently warns it will act to stop any effort at formal independence.
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Dan