China's growing might adds urgency to Taiwan arms calls

Chinas growing military strength, from stealth jets to aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles, has shifted the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait to Beijings advantage, and this will not be materially affected by an imminent arms deal with Taiwan.The duration of any potential conflict between China and Taiwan will be a matter of days, not weeks or months, analysts and experts say.The Obama administration is expected to notify formally Congress next week on an arms package including F-16 upgradesfor the self-ruled island China claims as its own, but not the new fighters Taipei wanted.Beijing, meanwhile, has shown no sign of ending an arms build-up that is strategically focused on Taiwan, and analysts say the arms deal will do little to alter the balance.Chinas military advances have continued despite a warming of ties across the narrow Taiwan Strait that followed the election of Ma Ying-jeou as president of the democratic island in 2008, and his signing of landmark trade and economic pacts.Taiwans military can do little to disguise its unease.There have also been no signs of adjustments to military deployments facing our country, Taiwan Defense Minister Kao Hua-chu wrote in July in the foreword to its annual white paper. We must build forces that are as impregnable as a rock.The Defense Departments annual assessment to Congress last month warned that China remains focused on developing the pre-requisite military capabilities to eventually settle the dispute on Beijings terms.Taiwan once held the military edge against a backward Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Today, experts generally agree that in the event of conflict, Taiwan would have at most only a few days to hold off China and get help from outside, most likely the United States, if they were to stand any chance.No ones really asking the question, could Taiwan beat China in an all-out conflict, said Matt Durnin, a researcher with the World Security Institute.The question theyre asking is whether or not Taiwan could survive long enough in a conflict it would be able to recruit other countries to support it politically or militarily.