Top 5 Weapons Taiwan Needs to Defend Itself Against a China Invasion
China’s invasion of Taiwan could happen sooner than expected, and Taiwan’s military is unprepared to defend against it for long. Without significant American intervention, Taiwan will have little chance to prevent a full-scale invasion.
Summary and What You Need to Know: China’s invasion of Taiwan could happen sooner than expected, and Taiwan’s military is unprepared to defend against it for long. Without significant American intervention, Taiwan will have little chance to prevent a full-scale invasion.
-Instead, Taiwan must prepare for insurgency, mobilizing its population and acquiring key defensive systems. These include electromagnetic spectrum jammers, drone fleets, Starlink access for communication, hypersonic weapons to challenge China’s military, and small arms to arm its citizens.
-Taiwan’s people must prepare to resist, as outside support is likely to be minimal when the invasion occurs.
Taiwan Needs These 5 Weapons to Repel a Chinese Invasion
China is preparing to invade Taiwan. It is coming sooner than the 2027 timeline that the Pentagon is operating under. The Taiwanese military is completely unprepared for repelling the invasion for more than a few weeks.
Further, if the invasion is preceded by a protracted Chinese blockade of the island unless the Americans directly intervene, there will be no chance for the embattled Taiwanese people to prevent an invasion.
It is becoming far too late for the Taiwanese military to expect to receive the kind of heavy weapons platforms that one might need to repel an invasion, too. What Taiwan needs is to prepare its entire population to resist.
Civil defense units need to be mobilized, trained in small arms tactics, and prepared to wage the mother-of-all-insurgencies against the invaders, all with the prospect that there will be minimal aid coming their way from the United States, or their allies, for that matter.
Here are five weapons systems the island needs to overturn a Chinese invasion of their island.
5. Island-Spanning Electromagnetic Spectrum Jammers
Although not as reliant on high-technology systems as Western forces are, China is on a massive modernization push for its military. While this gives Chinese forces considerable advantages and capabilities they otherwise lack, this newfound high-tech savviness comes with notable vulnerabilities.
Such weaknesses can be relatively easily exploited by the island defenders.
The presence of electromagnetic spectrum jammers would enhance Taiwan’s defense by nullifying many of the technological accouterments Chinese forces will be depending on when they wage war on the island. Further, it will even be a fight between the Taiwanese guerilla fighter and the Chinese soldier or marine.
Such jammers would, therefore, allow for the Taiwanese defender to get in close for the kill while negating the ability of Chinese attackers to call in for precision air support or artillery strikes against Taiwanese defenders.
Glory be to the defenders.
4. Let There Be Drones
The Ukraine War has shown that drone technology is both cheap and can be easily mass-produced. This technology can also operate in significantly degraded environments.
Further, drones can truly rebalance an engagement in a weaker force’s favor.
These systems can be used to swarm artillery sites, disrupt tank operations, harry nearby warships, and disrupt enemy attacks. Taiwan needs fleets of drones for surveillance and unconventional attacks.
They are superb force multipliers.
3. Starlink Access
Toward that end, the Taiwanese will need command, communication, and control capabilities that will otherwise be degraded. As has been proven in Ukraine, Taiwan will need access to Starlink.
It’s another wonderful force multiplier.
We know that China is threatened by the use of Starlink by enemy forces because, in the immediate aftermath after Elon Musk authorized Ukraine’s use of his innovative system, China began working on ways to destroy Starlink using lasers.
Chinese forces have yet to develop a reliable countermeasure to Starlink. So, Taiwan will need loads of Starlink terminals.
2. Hypersonic Weapons
China is a world leader in hypersonic weapons technology. They are only surpassed in operational hypersonic capabilities by Russia. The United States is, unfortunately, a distant third.
Other countries, such as India, Japan, and even Australia, are working feverishly to develop their arsenals. Taipei must dedicate considerable resources to procuring any hypersonic weapons it can from the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, as these systems can wreak havoc on advanced militaries.
Hypersonic weapons are lethal because they not only move fast, but they perform radical and unpredictable maneuvers that stymie most defense systems. Having arsenals of these weapons could go a long way in degrading China’s ability to land forces on the island and secure large tranches of the island.
1. Small Arms
With a population of around twenty-four million people living on the island, even if only half wanted to resist, giving them small arms and the proper training on how to employ those small arms would be an incredible advantage for the Taiwanese.
There is nothing quite like a well-armed populace that is fighting not only for its physical survival but for the survival of its way of life, and its nationhood. Authoritarian states, like China, look down their noses at free people. But free people are lethal when properly armed and trained, and given the impetus to defend that God-given freedom.
These are just some of the systems that Taiwan would need to repel a Chinese invasion of their land, which is likely coming sooner than anyone realizes.
America will not save Taiwan. No one will except for the Taiwanese people.
An insurgency is the only way for Taiwan to free itself from the inevitable blockade, invasion, and occupation of Taiwan by Chinese forces.
Author Experience and Expertise: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
All images are Creative Commons or Shutterstock.
From the Vault
