War is a never ending business. It is in the public’s interest to boost our country’s economy and national security. This why Taiwan should invest more in national defense technologies.

Constant threats

For the past 70 years Taiwan has constantly been under the direct threat of a full scale invasion from China. To prepare for this day, the Taiwanese military has already built a considerable defensive force. Yet this defense force is weakening relative to the ever-growing Chinese military budget. In order to change the tide, Taiwan needs to focus on building and developing weapons of several types.

First, the Taiwanese government and its people should set a goal for creating next generation fighter jets within the next two decades. Military weapons are some of the most complicated machines to build. However, by developing new generation war planes, Taiwan would create thousands of job opportunities and open up new industries that people can participate in. This might seem like an impossible task to accomplish, but in fact Taiwan had already made its own fighter jet before.

Past military industrial development

F-CK-1 is a fighter jet that Taiwan designed with American technical support in the 90s. The fighter jet proved to be one of the best in its kind and is now the main plane defending middle-low air space and for delivering counter strikes to China. What’s more important are the economic benefits the plane provided. Tens of billions of dollars were spent just to develop this jet and then even more to manufacture and upgrade squadrons of these fighters. After the project was finished, many engineers left Taiwan to go to South Korea to help them create their own trainer jets (T-50). All told, creating a next gen fighter jet would greatly improve Taiwan’s military industries, boost its economy, and strengthen Taiwan’s air power.

Command of the sea

Another war machine that Taiwan needs to start to develop is a submarine. Submarines will play important roles in defending sea routes and major ports of the country. In World War 1, Germany used its infamous Unlimited Submarine Policy, which heavily pressured British and American defenses and proved a problem when the US was transporting goods to Europe. Although submarines are not a new weapon, they still earn their place when the military needs to engage in war over sea routes. They are hard to detect and trace, disappearing for days and executing critical attacks on enemy fleets. Then they vanish from radar, leaving crippled warships for the friendlies to finish.

Native submarine development

With submarines playing such a decisive role in battle, it is not hard to see why Taiwan needs to speed up its pace in developing these war machines. Once learning that several fleets of landing troops are going to attack Taiwan, Taiwan submarines could first sink to blind spots around in the ocean to ensure the safety of sea routes and ports of Taiwan. While the military is on the right path, the project still needs more investment from the public and international contractors that have familiarly with building subs to invest in the program.

Surface control

With submarines that make up underwater fire power, surface warships can maintain command of the sea. That is why Taiwan should develop and maintain both traditional and “asymmetrical” warships. Having command of the sea is one of the most important strategies that super powers have used to become and stay super powers in the past few centuries. If the Taiwanese navy maintains command of its waterways long enough for the international community to intervene, we can ensure the total control of Taiwan and the surrounding islands. In order to accomplish this goal, the navy needs to strengthen its warships. It should not necessarily try to build a mighty war fleet but rather a flexible force that can withstand the first wave attack of Chinese missiles and can carry out attacks to landing convoy escorts.

Asymmetrical warfare

Ships like Tuo River class corvette and its kind are the perfect types of ship in this kind of asymmetrical warfare, and that is the reason Taiwan should invest more in them in order to let them exert their full potential in conflict.

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Although war is humanity’s collective nightmare, there is no reason to pretend like it’s not a possibility. To secure a democratic Taiwan for future generations, we will need a stronger and better military force in Taiwan – that is why we should invest more in Taiwan’s military industries.