this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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The submarines will use a combat system by US defence company Lockheed Martin Corp and carry US-made torpedoes.

Admiral Huang Shu-kuang, Ms Tsai's security adviser, described the submarines as a "strategic deterrent" that could also help maintain the island's "lifeline" to the Pacific by keeping ports along Taiwan's eastern coast open.

China openly ridiculed Taiwanese hopes for what the submarines could do to defend the island.

“No matter how many weapons the Democratic Progressive Party buys, it will not obstruct the greater trend of reunification with the motherland,” said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson in China's Ministry of National Defense.

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[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (10 children)

China's... not so wrong with this one. Under the previous KMT government, Taiwan-China relations were normalizing (not to the degree of reunification, but to the degree that conflict wasn't really on the horizon anymore because of the economic harm it would cause). The DPP has taken a strongly anti-China stance and the result has been escalating tensions... All while bilateral trade across the strait continues to grow.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

It's reasonable for any country to be "anti-china" when they are being targeted like Taiwan is. China speaks constantly of invasion and frequently violates Taiwans airspace for practice runs of an invasion. Spinning it as Taiwans fault is mindless propaganda

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

And yet, under the KMT government relations were normalizing. In the past, mainland China had extremely positive rhetoric towards Taiwan (and Taiwan towards mainland China). Even today, trade grows and cultural coupling grows.

Frankly, claiming that China violates Taiwan's airspace shows a gross misunderstanding of international aviation law. American FONOPs in the area since 2016 have broken the status quo that the Chinese and Taiwanese governments were using to split the strait: if the strait is international waters outside of the 12km limit, then the air above it is international airspace by definition.

Oddly enough, that timeline also coincides with Taiwan's government flipping from KMT rule to DPP rule.

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