Inside China: PLA on Taiwan’s weapons

By Miles Yu

ANALYSIS/OPINION:
A People’s Liberation Army major general said recently that Taiwan should abandon the U.S. as its main weapons supplier and buy arms from Beijing instead.
Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, China’s most outspoken anti-U.S. military official, made the remarks at a defense forum in the city of Guangzhou that was attended by defense analysts from China and Taiwan.
Taiwan is the primary target of China’s short-range ballistic missiles, deployed 100 miles from Taiwan’s west coast. China has never given up the option to “liberate” or “reunite” Taiwan by force.
For decades, the U.S. has been Taiwan’s major weapons supplier, mainly through the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which calls for guarantees that Taiwan’s defenses match Chinese offensive capabilities.
However, Beijing has protested weapons sales to Taiwan, and successive U.S. administrations have limited arms transfers to the island democracy.
Gen. Luo failed to mention what country Taiwan would target with Chinese-made weapons.
The implicit message seems to suggest that Taiwan should use Chinese-made weapons to fight Japan or the Philippines, which are disputing, along with China and Taiwan, ownership of a few tiny islands in the East Sea/Sea of Japan and the South China Sea.

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