Taiwan’s defenses are, by many accounts, ill-equipped and understaffed. Its president, Tsai Ing-wen, has vowed to defend the island, but she has struggled to impose a new strategic vision on the uniformed leadership.
Taiwan spends billions on fighter jets and submarines, yet its conscripts barely get enough ammunition for training. The mandatory military service is seen by many as too short, and the reservist program, insufficiently rigorous. The military is building a professional force, but has struggled to recruit and retain highly skilled soldiers…
Seeing the growing imbalance, American officials and some Taiwan strategists have recently accelerated efforts to push Taiwan to instead amass a large number of smaller weapons. That includes naval craft such as the ships in the drill that can quickly lay sea mines to block forces trying to land.
Advocates of the strategy argue that Taiwan, like Ukraine, could easily deploy Stinger missiles, which can be shoulder-launched at aircraft, and portable Harpoon missiles, which can attack ships. Unlike tanks and large battleships, these are hard to target and destroy.
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