Taiwan must invest in asymmetric weapons, warfare, says US military expert

Noting that traditional weapons would be easy for China to counter, US-based military analyst Eric Gomez has stressed the need for Taiwan to invest in asymmetric weapons, Taipei Times reported citing a new report.

The report, which was published by the Cato Institute said that Taiwan should maintain its existing conventional forces to combat low-intensity conflicts while acquiring more asymmetric warfare capabilities to counter potential aggression from China.

The report compared military equipment sold to Taiwan during US President-elect Donald Trump's first term in office and US President Joe Biden's current term, and it was found that Trump sold more traditional weapons while Biden emphasized improving asymmetric warfare capabilities, according to Taipei Times.

 

"Traditional weapons are more flexible, but they tend to have much higher unit and lifetime costs and take longer to build than asymmetric capabilities," the report stated.

The first Trump administration sold Taiwan $ 10.4 billion (New Taiwan Dollar 319.9 million) in traditional weapons, while the Biden administration has only sold $ 500 million worth of traditional weapons.

As of last month, only one of four military sales packages made by the Trump administration has been delivered to Taiwan.

According to the report, while the Biden administration focused more on asymmetric capabilities, with nine sales packages worth $ 4.36 billion, and maintenance, with 14 sales packages worth a total of $ 2.81 billion.

Acquiring more asymmetric capabilities while maintaining existing traditional capabilities is a "sensible strategy," he said.

"While the first Trump administration sold Taiwan more weapons, the Biden administration sold Taiwan a better mix of weapons for Taiwan's self-defence needs," Gomez said. Except for the Patriot interceptors, "this would be a terrible choice for Taiwan."

Not only would these traditional systems consume most of Taiwan's limited defence budget, but "they would be relatively easy for China to counter and take a long time to be built and delivered," he said.

Taiwan has started focusing more on the development of much-needed asymmetric warfare capabilities in the last few years, he said. While large-scale arms sales might seem appealing, it is more rational for the shared interests of both nations for Taiwan to buy cheaper, but more militarily effective asymmetric capabilities, he added, as per Taipei Times.