Taiwan to test-fire cruise missile which cud hit Shanghai

Very well, since no one has heeded my warning, this thread will be locked.

It’s always funny to see how the China vs Taiwan wr would happen.
china would send hundred of ballistic missiles but would cry to the UN if Taiwan use a single bomb 🙂

It probably wouldn’t happen. Not when the latest stats show Taiwanese investment to China rising around 67% the first half of this year.

People don’t rush to put money into situations where war is imminent.

The Taiwan Strait really isn’t your basic hotspot situation like Israel-Arabs or India-Pakistan. Those countries don’t trade, travel or interact much with each other.

OTOH, trade, cultural and human exchanges between China and Taiwan are deep and massive. Almost five percent of the Taiwanese population actually lives in China (there are over 1 million Taiwanese in the PRC from a total population of 23 million.)

By the flow of money alone, most people who live in the greater China region (PRC, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and SE Asia are pretty telling you that they don’t think war is really going to happen.

😮
Logic: If as much as a rubber bullet is fired in the direction of
Shanghai, Gaugzhou, HK China, or any one of the many Chinese biggies from
the Island; I suggest for you people to refer back to Bagdad ’91, Kabul 2001, and again
Bagdad 2002 for a more realistic and first hand sneak preview of what’s to come
for the Island therehence — blood brother or no blood brother.

It’s always funny to see how the China vs Taiwan wr would happen.
china would send hundred of ballistic missiles but would cry to the UN if Taiwan use a single bomb 🙂

1. I never heard of this phantom encounter even from Western sources.

2. The Chinese certainly did not get the design for the reactor of a nuclear sub from Russian sources. And just about everything from the seventies all the way up.

3. Provide proof that India’s nuclear program is more advanced than China.

4. Sour grapes on the space issue. The manned space flight serves major in engineering and military purposes. No one in NASA or the former Soviet Union would ever deny the importance of this, which is why the US and Russia is still the only two countries that ever concievably can build and maintain manned stations in space. The Shenzhen is more than a capsule—it is also a flying laboratory and a surveillance station with ominous military implications. The guy went up there and stayed for a week, and the third module stayed up there for six months before reentrying the atmosphere for recovery. The design of the ship was way overkill for just sending a man into space.

Googled this. Clearly Taiwan has capability to build nukes overnight.

TIM WEINER, “CIA Spy Kept Taiwan From Developing Bomb, Former Officials Say,” New York Times, December 20, 1997

——————————————————————————–

WASHINGTON — A U.S. spy whose role was cultivated for two decades rose to the top of Taiwan’s secret nuclear weapons program and, at a crucial moment, stole vital documentation that stopped the bomb program in its tracks, according to former intelligence officials.

The theft by the spy, a colonel in Taiwan and longtime Central Intelligence agent, halted a program that 20 years of international inspection and U.S. intervention had slowed but never stopped, the officials said.

The covert U.S. operation culminated 10 years ago this month. And though it was reported then that the colonel had defected, dealing a crippling blow to Taiwan’s nuclear weapons program, his work has never been acknowledged openly or described in detail before by U.S. officials.

That weapons program had the potential to ignite a war; China had threatened a military attack if Taiwan deployed a nuclear weapon. And Taiwan was closer to developing a nuclear weapon than was previously known, according to a study to be published next month in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

The study provides lessons for stopping the spread of nuclear weapons today. It shows how a nation can secretly and patiently assemble a nuclear weapons program piece by piece, as several U.S. allies and enemies — among them Israel, Iraq and Iran — have done with varying degrees of success. And the study also demonstrates how international political and diplomatic pressure can disrupt a nation’s dreams of possessing nuclear arms.

The story of the spy who stopped the nuclear weapons program — Col. Chang Hsien-yi, who was deputy director of Taiwan’s nuclear energy research institute — has never been fully told. The CIA refuses to discuss it, and Chang effectively disappeared after he defected to the United States 10 years ago.

He was recruited as a CIA agent in the 1960s, when he was a military cadet, according to former intelligence officials. In the 1970s, as he rose through the ranks of Taiwan’s secret weapons hierarchy, Chang was nurtured and cultivated as a spy for the United States. And in the 1980s, he provided the United States with a unique inside look at the burgeoning nuclear bomb program — secret information that could not be obtained by electronic eavesdropping or spy satellites.

Of the former intelligence officials who discussed the case, only James Lilley, a retired U.S. ambassador and former CIA station chief in Beijing, agreed to be quoted by name. Lilley said he believed it was time for the case to publicly acknowledged as a great success, a classic in the annals of intelligence, which should be made known to the American public.

“You pick a comer, put the right case officer on him and recruit him carefully, on an ideological basis — although money was involved — and keep in touch,” Lilley said. “Then, in the early ’80’s, it began to pay off.”

“You couldn’t get this stuff from intercepts, and you couldn’t get it from overhead,” he said, referring to covert electronic-eavesdropping and satellite reconnaissance systems. “You had to get it from a human source. And you had to use it very carefully.”

In December 1987, as the secret program was gaining steam, Chang defected to the United States, with the CIA’s assistance, smuggling reams of documents out of Taiwan: damning evidence of the progress Taiwan had made toward building a bomb. State Department officials confronted Taiwan, which agreed to halt the program.

“This was a case where they actually did something right,” Lilley said, referring to the U.S. intelligence and diplomatic communities. “They got the guy out. They got the documentation. And they confronted the Taiwanese.”

Taiwan’s official position ever since has been that it will not use its scientific expertise and technical abilities to build a nuclear weapon.

The Republic of China on Taiwan was established by Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Chinese Nationalists, who fled with 2 million followers after Mao’s Communist forces took control of the mainland in 1949. China regards Taiwan as a “renegade province,” and from time to time over the years has threatened to attack if Taiwan develops a nuclear bomb.

These tensions rise and fall; after China test-fired missiles into the waters off Taiwan’s coast in 1995, Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui told the national assembly that Taiwan should consider reviving its nuclear weapons program. Days later, he said that Taiwan would “definitely not” resume work on a bomb.

The article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, written by David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, and Corey Gay, a policy analyst at the institute, is the most thorough study available on Taiwan’s nuclear weapons program.

The program dates back at least to China’s first nuclear test in October 1964, though its roots may lie as deep as the 1950s. When China developed the bomb, Taiwan wanted one, just as Pakistan went to work on building a nuclear weapon after its neighbor and arch-rival India tested a device. Ownership of a nuclear weapon is a matter of national pride and status as much as a matter of national defense.

After the Chinese test, Chiang pressed the United States to attack China’s nuclear installations, the study shows. Rebuffed, Taiwan went to work on developing the know-how, the technology and the techniques for building a bomb.

Taiwan’s work on the bomb took place at the Chungsan Institute of Science and Technology, a military installation, and the adjacent Institute for Nuclear Energy Research. The authors of the study say the latter institute, known as INER, was set up to produce plutonium metal, the desired form for the fissile material in a nuclear bomb.

INER bought a 40-megawatt nuclear research reactor from Canada, the same model India used to produce the plutonium it used for its first nuclear test explosion.

The facility also bought nuclear equipment, supplies and expertise from the United States, France, Germany, Norway and other nations. South Africa supplied 100 metric tons of uranium. The United States supplied a form of plutonium. All of this material was ostensibly for civilian research.

But by 1974, a decade after China exploded its first bomb, the CIA concluded that Taiwan’s nuclear energy program had been run “with a weapon option clearly in mind, and it will be in a position to fabricate a nuclear device after five years or so.”

That Taiwan was potentially within five years of becoming a nuclear power was a clear and present danger. In the early 1970s, Taiwan had lost its international status as an independent nation. The United Nations had recognized Mao’s People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of the Chinese people.

With that loss of diplomatic status, Taiwan was no longer a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear programs. And Canada, which had supplied the nuclear reactor at INER, no longer took responsibility for safeguarding it.

The United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed informally with Taiwan on independent inspections. It took years of work, but by 1976 the international agency concluded that Taiwan could be secretly reprocessing plutonium-laden fuel rods from its research reactor. The agency also concluded that Taiwan could make plutonium metal from ingredients supplied by the United States, the new study says.

“It did not appear that the United States was aware what Taiwan was doing with the plutonium,” one author, Albright, said in an interview.

In late 1976 or early 1977, the inspectors found there was a trap-door at the INER facility through which Taiwan could divert fuel rods from the research reactor into a weapons program, the study said. This proved to be the last straw. Washington insisted that Taiwan shut down its weapons research program and return the plutonium that the United States had supplied.

On the surface, it appeared that Taiwan’s drive for nuclear weapons had been stopped. But under President Chiang Ching-kuo, who succeeded his father in 1978, the program continued, in greater secrecy.

Just how much progress Taiwan made in the following decade remains uncertain. The authors said in interviews that they believed Taiwan was perhaps just a year or two away from completing a nuclear bomb in December 1987, when Chang fled Taiwan carrying documents on the secret program. The authors also said they were actively discouraged by United States officials from inquiring into the role played by Chang and the nature of the information he relayed to the United States. They report nothing that has not been previously revealed about the colonel.

They said their research showed how concerted international pressure can make it harder and harder for countries to hide secret weapons programs. They also note that until the late 1980s, the news media in Taiwan were tightly controlled, military budgets were secret and public debates over national security were stifled by that secrecy.

Albright said he thought the race for nuclear weapons in Taiwan had been ended, for the time being, by a combination of forces: “Democratization, the colonel’s defection and pressure from the United States.”

But, he added, “it may not be over yet.” With a crash program conducted in great secrecy, he said, Taiwan could still build a bomb in a year or two.

Good discussion – I think we need a India & China discussion topic on the general fora, where we can discussion without risking the morderators ire

Okay quickly…sneaking the following in:

GD / Crobato – because you havn’t heard about it doesn’t mean it did not happen. State controlled media tend to filter these things

GD – Where do you think China got its nuke design and reactors from? The Great Leap?! No… silly the real stuff came from the Soviets. What were the Chinese test called then? If we called it a Peaceful nuclear explosion, well that was for political reasons. So yes India tested in 1974 with a design complete in 1968. Call it what you want.

GD – The Japanese are way ahead in innovation and technology. Don’t try to promote yourself by comparing China with Japan or Korea for that matter. Try getting some intellectual property rights first and do innovation on a large scale like they do rather than cheap assembly and manufacturing. R&D by multinationals in India is an area where China cannot compete.

GD – Still provide some proof that Tiawan has a more advance R&D in nuclear tech than India. I would say that India is more advance than certainly China given how the industry had to build itself from scratch due to sanctions. Making corollarys with the Olympics and R&D means little. Compare Indian top educational institutions with the rest, you will understand.

GD / Crobato – This served zero engineering / scientific purpose – sending a man in space on old tech. Other nations, including India & Japan & the EU have benefitted from collaboration with the US and Russia (Soviets). What new data on do you propose to find? Zero – it was more of a Chinese penis measuring contest. No one was impressed. Ever wonder the origins of the LM series rockets?

GD – Re the olympics. Indias have essentially zero state and corporate spending in sports. So I was really surprised that we even got one medal. Except for Cricket, the rest really unfortunatly does not matter. We don’t pull out our school kids from grade school and train them for the olympics 24×7 its not our style. It means little except to raise some egos – no one really watched the damn thing here in the US anyway.

If you guys want to talk more, open a thread in the General discussion forum. I am sure it will be a fun discussion.

The only border encounters I know involving China were in 1984 (or it is in 1986) involving Vietnam, and they fared a lot better there than in 1979.

I don’t really recall much about the 1984 incident, which is at best an insignificant exchange compared to the one in 1962.

I never heard of the 1984 incident and neither has anyone else (who isn’t Indian.) The border wars between China and Vietnam in the early and mid 1980s were very real and they recorded in pictures from that period. But I’ve come across absolutely nothing concerning India in the 1980s.

This is like the ludicrous “India gave China its UN Security Council Seat” story – a phantom historic event.

Lets go at this in the General Discussion forum….

Sir Google has indicated his displeasure 🙂

What the US could stop Taiwan but not Isreal… maybe the Israelis are more advance

Or it could be because Israel’s are less dangerous to the US’s strategic position. The US didn’t think the Arabs can respond to Israel’s nuclear bombs (though that is a wrong assumption based on disdain or prejudice.)

An openly nuclear Taiwan would not only mean a Chinese attack but a nuclear Japan and a nuclear South Korea. There is no way Taiwan can go nuclear and not have the other two go nuke too.

The scope of whats being done with the LCA vs the F-CK-1 is very different, as well as the amount of assistance recieved.

It is not just fighter aircraft but practically everything else. There is nothing by economic, social and scientific criteria where Taiwan isn’t miles ahead of India.

Don’t underestimate the Japanese.

The Chinese might not be awed. But they would never underestimate the Japanese. Or the ROC. Everything the Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese do are on an order of competence greater than most of Asia (or most of Europe, for that matter, save the leading few. )

China haven’t underestimate anyone since 1962. Even during the 1979 invasion of Vietnam, most Chinese thought they were going up against a superior force which was both more expereienced and better armed.

the world smirked when China spent $$ hundreds of millions on Russian space tech to send a man into space. What were they trying to demonstrate in 2004 by doing what others did since the late 1950s.

Correction, what only the US and Russia alone had done until China joined them. They are the only ones with the right to smirk. Smirking from those who never did it is pretty irrelevant.

India “smirked” at China’s Olympics 32 gold medals too :rolleyes: And there were far more people smirking about India getting only one medal than China’s spaceshot. But who cares?

You will always have people who’ve done nothing smirking at other’s achievements. A single silver medal was a great achievement for India in Athens (compared to other years) and India should be congratulated not smirked at in my opinion.

China did well in the olympics, that was due to a national drive, a state funded sports programme geared for the olympics

Taiwan’s Olympics program has done infinitely better than India’s. I think it is safe to day the Taiwanese nuclear weapons program was better funded and just as competently run.

China’s programs on both is of another league.

Wrong again – India tested first in 1974. The 1998 tests were weapons of more recent vintage.

India stated 1974 was a “peaceful” test because the material, plutonium, for the test came from a Canadian reactor that was gifted to India for peaceful purposes.
(1)

So 1974 was neither a weapons test nor even entirely Indian.

The first weapons explosion was supposedly 1998 at Pokhran but even this set of tests was not confirmed outside of India. In fact, there are great doubts as whether the Indian tests ever succeeded from seimographic evidence. (2)

————————————————————————

Notes:
http://www.ccnr.org/india_press.html
“CANDU reactors are the only commercially available nuclear reactors that produce both plutonium and tritium. India’s first nuclear explosion in 1974 used plutonium from a heavy water reactor that was a gift from the Canadian government.”

(2) http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaRealYields.html
“The yields claimed for the initial simultaneous Shakti I-III three shot test on 11 May were 43 kt, +/- 3 kt (for a thermonuclear device test, also stated to be 43-45 kt), 12 kt (an improved fission bomb design), and 0.2 kt. As with Pokhran-I, these yield claims have been controversial from the start.

“The consensus among outside seismic experts is that the yields of most Indian tests are overstated (particularly Pokhran-I or “Smiling Buddha” and Shakti-I), and that the very existence of Shakti IV-V is in question.”

On “smirking”: Pokhran II actually did caused far more smirking than China’s “man in space” experience if we take an example of press coverage at the time. An example:

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1524/15240820.htm
“The Vajpayee Government went for the Pokhran-II blasts giving a false impression to the people that they would help establish India as a superpower. It was a criminal act in that India is one of the 20 poorest nations which depend on borrowings and aid from the World Bank and other international funding agencies for managing their affairs.”

AirPower, did you actually have something of substance that you wished to bring up with that comment of yours, “India should slip Taiwan some nukes, just like how China slipped some nukes to Pakistan. That would settle the score… ” or are you just trolling? If not, I recommend that you get back on topic.

It took place in Sumdorong Chu…

Sure they are more mechanized, if you think so – also that mechanized army is going to roll over the Himalayas..

And you think your Indian army can cross over the Himalayas on foot?

Don’t you think the EU actually had the means, but saw zero scientific value besides boasting. Japan and India certainly have the capability, but saw zero value, instead India is contemplating a manned mission to the moon – even that is hotly debated about its merits.

Excuses, excuses. You don’t have the capability until you actually go out and do it. The boosters for manned spacecraft is certainly a lot larger and more powerful than for satellite launches. Japan does not have a good record for recent satellite launches either, while the Chinese have been flawless in the last 30 or more launches.

As for scientific value, no one in NASA doubts the value of putting a man into space. That knowledge is priceless. To know how a man can survive in a space enivornment, you need to put one there. That leads to greater things such as space laboratories.

We have not even touched the military aspects here.

It was no real great scientific feat.

You only say so just because you never done it.

Sounds a lot like the Souyez – from what I saw the space suits and capsules looked a lot like what the Soviets developed.

It’s a lot more sophisticated than a Soyuz. The first section is also its own laboratory with solar panels two or three times larger than a Soyuz to power it. The modular section is a self contained space vehicle on its own (the ship has three parts), which can change orbit many times and is used to conduct long term experiments. This is not to mention all the possible surveillance equipment inside the first and the third modules.

Don’t bet on it. The US pulling the plugs on imports or curtailing them due to the pegged rumbei is a real possibility.

Don’t bet on that either. Around 11% of the current US GNP is literally based on the resale of Chinese made goods. Consider that China is also capable of pulling the plugs on purchases from the US, since the trade is two way.

Remember Japan was the largest holder (probally still is) of the US T-Bills – look at them now. The US is smarter than most give them credit for.

Smarter? The US is paying interest to Japan. Total US debt is now close to 8 trillion. That’s alarming for a 10 trillion a year economy. Money is literally flowing outwards from the US to the debtors. Amercian children will be paying the debt incurred by the free spending habits of their parents.

I don’t really recall much about the 1984 incident, which is at best an insignificant exchange compared to the one in 1962.

It took place in Sumdorong Chu…

So is the PLA, which is a lot more mechanized than your still basically infantry army.

Sure they are more mechanized, if you think so – also that mechanized army is going to roll over the Himalayas..

What only two others did in the 50’s—the US and the Soviet Union. Not India, not Japan, not Great Britain, not France, not Italy—just about no one else.

Don’t you think the EU actually had the means, but saw zero scientific value besides boasting. Japan and India certainly have the capability, but saw zero value, instead India is contemplating a manned mission to the moon – even that is hotly debated about its merits.

It was no real great scientific feat.

They also sent a modular spacecraft that is more sophisticated than any Soyuz or Apollo. It can hold three, one module is a minispace lab of its own, and the other module can fly independently of their space craft and can change orbit many times over a six month period.

Sounds a lot like the Souyez – from what I saw the space suits and capsules looked a lot like what the Soviets developed.

China’s economy has reached critical reaction, which already means it is self perpetuating. That is why their growth rates are not in synch with the status of other economies elsewhere, which is comparitively moribund. As a matter of fact, the US budget deficit is dependent now on Chinese goodwill—the PRC being the biggest buyers and holders of US Treasury Bonds in the last few years—accumulating over half a trillion and counting.

Don’t bet on it. The US pulling the plugs on imports or curtailing them due to the pegged yuan is a real possibility.

Remember Japan was the largest holder (probally still is) of the US T-Bills – look at them now. The US is smarter than most give them credit for.

Yea, lets see China try a 1962 border skirmish with India in 2004. They tried in 1984 again and got hammered by the Indian army.

I don’t really recall much about the 1984 incident, which is at best an insignificant exchange compared to the one in 1962.

In the 1960s India was unprepared, in 2004 its a different game.

So is the PLA, which is a lot more mechanized than your still basically infantry army.

Yea.. the world smirked when China spent $$ hundreds of millions on Russian space tech to send a man into space. What were they trying to demonstrate in 2004 by doing what others did since the late 1950s.

What only two others did in the 50’s—the US and the Soviet Union. Not India, not Japan, not Great Britain, not France, not Italy—just about no one else.

They also sent a modular spacecraft that is more sophisticated than any Soyuz or Apollo. It can hold three, one module is a minispace lab of its own, and the other module can fly independently of their space craft and can change orbit many times over a six month period.

And they will send another spacecraft next year.

China did well in the olympics, that was due to a national drive, a state funded sports programme geared for the olympics (you don’t find that in too many other countries)…

As sports programs should be if they don’t have corporate sponsors. Nothing wrong with that. They set to exceed the 26 golds they got in Sydney; they got 32 or 33, with a total of 60-70 medals.

China’s entire economy is dependent on the US goodwill towards importing Chinese products. Cheap labor for manufacturing is abound, things can change rather quickly in this area. Don’t underestimate the Japanese.

China’s economy has reached critical reaction, which already means it is self perpetuating. That is why their growth rates are not in synch with the status of other economies elsewhere, which is comparitively moribund. As a matter of fact, the US budget deficit is dependent now on Chinese goodwill—the PRC being the biggest buyers and holders of US Treasury Bonds in the last few years—accumulating over half a trillion and counting.

And yes, and remember that the W-88 issue actually involved a Taiwanese scientist, not a PRC one.

So think about it.

Actually, it was said that the Chinese had perfected both
the MIRV and the neutron bomb technology on their own accord in ’88 or
thereabouts. How they did it, it was claimed, was with the super computers imported from the west.
It helped Chinese scientists with the necessary tools and means of solving
the tough and massive calculations needed for the technology.

And, what’s most ironic: the person that broke this silence happens
to be this guy (wrote book) dispatched by the Pentagon to help the Chinese develop better safety
systems for their nukes so as to avoid accidental firings and launches.

My hunch: The trade off might’ve been super
computers from the west in exchange for the incorporating of western safety
firing technology and precautionary systems…

The scapegoat, Wen Ho Lee, come much much later…

😮

Generally, the Chinese do followup on their threats and promises—Korea, the Indian border, the Vietnam border…

Yea, lets see China try a 1962 border skirmish with India in 2004. They tried in 1984 again and got hammered by the Indian army.

In the 1960s India was unprepared, in 2004 its a different game.

When they set goals and objectives, they go out to do it whether it’s sending a man to space or getting more golds than in the Sydney Olympics. The historical record do show the Chinese do follow up on their threats.

Yea.. the world simply shrugged its shoulders when China spent $$ hundreds of millions on Russian space tech to send a man into space. What were they trying to demonstrate in 2004 by doing what others did since the late 1950s.

China did well in the olympics, that was due to a national drive, a state funded sports programme geared for the olympics (you don’t find that in too many other countries)…

What does the above two have with taking on Tiawan? Wasn’t Vietnam tough enough ….

The land of the Rising Sun does not impress the Chinese either, believe me, considering that Japan has more to lose—it’s basic economic recovery is tied to exports to China and its companies making money there.

China’s entire economy is dependent on the US goodwill towards importing Chinese products. Cheap labor for manufacturing is abound, things can change rather quickly in this area. Don’t underestimate the Japanese.

Can you describe Israel’s program in detail? Most experts know Israel has nukes and that South Africa did have them. They’re all clandestine so how do you describe in detail programs that are never officially acknowledge.

Are you naive to think the US didn’t look the other way with the Israeli program or happen to accidently drop some files that contained designs or data…

Its known that the US didn’t overtly help, arming Israel with nukes wasn’t a bad idea for it.

The US has acknowledged to stopping Taiwan’s program first in the 1970s and then again 1980s.(1) India and Pakistan got their bombs in 1998.

What the US could stop Taiwan but not Isreal… maybe the Israelis are more advance 🙂

Wrong again – India tested first in 1974. Its known in recently released documents that the design was ready as early as 1968, but for whatever political reason they waited 6 more years to test.

The 1998 Indian nuclear tests were weapons of more recent vintage.
:diablo:

Generally, the Chinese do followup on their threats and promises—Korea, the Indian border, the Vietnam border… When they set goals and objectives, they go out to do it whether it’s sending a man to space or getting more golds than in the Sydney Olympics. The historical record do show the Chinese do follow up on their threats.

The land of the Rising Sun does not impress the Chinese either, believe me, considering that Japan has more to lose—it’s basic economic recovery is tied to exports to China and its companies making money there.

Taiwan has such an infinitely more developed technical base than India that such a statement is simply laughable. Taiwan doesn’t have nukes because it is under the US umbrella and China’s declared position that if Taiwan goes nuclear, China will go to war. p

lets see if they can talk the talk.

Building a sophisticated nuke takes more than having a bunch of silicon foundaries, thats what Tiawan is to the world today besides having a lot of $$$.

Core fundamental research in nuclear physics and associated fields is whats required, Tiawan isn’t know for that and does not have that. I don’t doubt however that they are able of building a less sophisticated nuclear weapon on short notice. Things like minturization, simulations techniques, thermonukes, 4th gen fusion -fusion weapons, and just even the basic data for validating their approach (without testing) does not exist – unless Uncle Sam lends a helping hand – or for that matter India.

India doesn’t need to get in the mess, but it does have a larger scientific base and a more depth in research as well as the second largest pool of scientists and engineers. Its laughable to say that Taiwan has “infinitely more developed technical base than blah blah”…

Taiwan has a lot of excellent core competencies, namely electronics but a only a fool would think that equates to infinite technical capabilities.

If it wants to build nukes, like S Korea and Japan, it could build them tomorrow at far greater speed and with far greater sophistication than anything out of India.

I assume you will justify your verbal diarrhea with some comparisons about R&D base in the releated areas of nuclear tech with respect to India.

Otherwise its just more drivel from the dragon (golden that is…) 🙂

For goodness sakes, Taiwan introduced what is arguably the first indigenous 4th gen fighter in Asia, the F-Ck-1 and then Asia’s first indigenous ARH BVR missiles. There simply isn’t any comparision between Taiwan’s capability and India’s.

The scope of whats being done with the LCA vs the F-CK-1 is very different, as well as the amount of assistance recieved. Thats a very moot point, and we can make a comparison of the two aircrafts in the other fora.

However, I think that China has stated previously that they will attack of Taiwan is preparing a nuclear weapon.

China has made a lot of noise, lets see if they can follow-up on it.

The US can more than easily call the Chinese bluff. Note that Japan just put China in its strategic threat catagory, you don’t want to **** off the land of the rising sun.