RE: Chinese MBTs

Taiwan received their batch of M60A3…because this was left over from the US Marines after the transition to M1A1s. The Bush adm. have just approved M1A1/2s to Taiwan recently. The point is, they don’t need it. Money is better spent on mobility (i’ve heard they’ve bought more infantry anti-tank weapons) than heavy fire power since i don’t think many tanks is going to be able to swim across the 90km+ strait. Actually in their opinion the M48H is more advanced than the M60A3s from the electronics perspective. It does uses the M60 chasis…but the turret is really crappy. It electronics is more modern than the M1, but probably just on par with M1A1s. What i’ve heard about China’s tanks are that they don’t have the most modern ones, or even the second most modern ones in any large numbers. Much like the PLAAF. Seems like every time they field a new tank, they would buy a few and hope for the next new model. Very very strange procurement style i would say. Japan is still the most advanced in the that part of the world, but ask any Korean and they’ll tell you about their K1A1s.