By MARCUS WEISGERBER
WASHINGTON — Taiwan watched Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine very closely. After all, the island nation, which is claimed by China, has long feared Beijing might do the same thing.
“We learned a very important lesson that we have to modernize our military by spending [to] develop [weapons and equipment] ourselves or working closely with the Americans,” Andrew Hsia, Taiwan’s deputy defense minister, said Wednesday at a Center for a New American Security event in Washington.
Russia’s military faced no resistance from Ukrainian forces as they entered the Crimean peninsula and eventually took over Ukrainian military bases. Many of the Ukrainian air force’s fighter jets are not flyable, and the ones that are can have limited capabilities. The rest of Ukraine’s military also has dated equipment with limited capabilities.
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