This is my earlier writing on PM Lee's visit to Taiwan
Clear and Present Danger of Taiwan War
According to a report by the Australian Defence Minister, the
Chinese
officials are all talking about an eminent WAR against Taiwan.
And
these are not just talks only. In preparations for war, the
Chinese
arm forces have made many military maneuvers over the past
months
with the most recent one, openly declared as a mock up
amphibious
assaults on Taiwan mainland. This military exercise will be
enhanced
by a live firing of ballistic missles from a missile base in
China.
It will be the most important military preparations on the
Chinese
side for a total showdown with Taiwan. Anyone who is familiar
with
military operations, these are the signs of "pre-ops"
preparations.
You will have military exercises again and again before you really
go
to war. If we track Chinese military exercises for the past
12
months, it is eminent that they are really preparing for war. All
the
elite forces have been positioned in the southern part of
China.
China has cleared most of the diplomatic obstacles with other
regional rivals like India and Russia. Thus, it could concentrate
on
the one front that matters most to it.
Taiwan's Ah Bian has planned to make big changes and
amendments
(almost creating a totally new one) to its constituitions in
2006.
This is the fundamental reasons for China's determination to
choose
arm conflicts as a mean to end the 5 decade old stalemate
over
Taiwan.
The most important question we want to ask is, what will happen
to
Singapore? If US decided to get involved in this war, what's
our
role? Same role as in Korean and Vietnam wars? We must bear in
mind
that we are dealing with a potentially big military power that
have
ballistic missiles capabalities. If we get involved and US tried
to
use us as a tap to tighten on China's supplies (basically oil),
we
might have to face ballistic missiles flying over our heads! And
if
in the event that we acted as a supply depot for US marines
and
aircraft carriers, our oil refineries and installations would be
the
first targets from a strategic point of view. IN the past, Korean
and
Vietnam didn't have such long distance capabilities to disrupt
the
supply lines of their enemies. But in modern warfare, China
possesses
such capabilities.
What stand should we take in the event of such military showdown?
We
aim for Swiss standards of living, we should take the Swiss stand
of
Neutrality?
Goh Meng Seng
