In a vitriolic response to a Taiwan-based journalist's assessment of ways Taiwan could stave off a potential Chinese invasion, retired PLA lieutenant general Wang Hongguang wrote in the nationalistic People's Daily-run tabloid Global Times on April 10 that Taiwan cannot withstand a full-scale war with the People's Liberation Army militarily, politically, economically or psychologically.
In a piece titled Taiwan's Master Plan to Defeat China in a War written for National Interest magazine last month, Taiwan affairs specialist J Michael Cole had proposed three ways for Taiwan to overcome a Chinese invasion. First, Taiwan must win the war before it starts through promising an unacceptable amount of pain to the PLA, the leadership in Beijing and the Chinese population, he said.
Cole said that Taiwan must counter a Chinese amphibious assault through a combination of naval and aerial assets as well as anti-armor rockets, missile batteries, artillery, mobile special forces units and well-trained and equipped reserves. Taiwan's second weapon is political warfare, Cole said — Taipei must leave Beijing in no doubt that its allies the United States and Japan will act quickly in the event of a PLA invasion. The more China is convinced that the United States and possibly Japan will intervene, the more reluctant it will be to attempt to achieve unification by force, Cole said.
Read the full story at Want China Times