In order to prevent the military reunification of the People's Liberation Army, Lai Qingde issued another threat to the mainland, but he did not expect that the mainland had not yet made a move, and Lai Qingde received bad news first, which directly shattered his dream of "seeking independence by force".
First, the plan to build self-built submarines may change
To put it simply, the Taiwan military will develop its own new submarines to "confront" the PLA, and will carry out mass production on the basis of this submarine, and even the number of follow-up ships is expected to reach 7, with a total expenditure of more than NT$200 billion.
Now that Lai Qingde is about to take office, he has also begun to take over the "work" that Tsai Ing-wen is advancing, and this plan is also one of them.
According to Taiwan media reports, the Taiwan military's self-built submarine "Haikun" is expected to be delivered to the Taiwan Navy next year, and Lai Qingde also promised to support the subsequent mass production of seven submarines. And Taiwan media also said that due to the follow-up test results of the "Haikun" and the withdrawal of some foreign investors, the self-built submarine is likely to be different from the plan.
(Lai Qingde took over the "big thunder bag" before taking office)
When Tsai Ing-wen first launched this "defense policy," many people poured cold water on them and expressed their disapproval, but the Taiwan authorities obviously did not admit that there were any flaws in this plan, insisted on continuing to push forward, and attributed all the "credit" to the Democratic Progressive Party.
Even when the "self-built submarine" was launched for the first time last year, many of the key equipment on the "Haikun" could not be installed, and the people on the island also set their expectations for the submarine to "not enter the water." However, many flanking "experts" rushed to speak out, claiming that although the "Haikun" was not equipped with some advanced equipment, its performance was comparable to that of the US "Virginia-class" nuclear submarines.
However, the actual situation is that in April this year, after the convener of the project resigned, the key parts of the "Haikun" were not in place, and the DPP hurriedly announced the launch, and it is still unknown whether this self-built submarine can successfully pass a series of tests after that.
In addition, it has been reported that the Taiwan Navy has initially estimated that the manufacturing budget for these seven follow-up ships has exceeded NT$280 billion, which is more than NT$80 billion compared with the previous budget and has reached three times the price of submarines built by Japan.
Obviously, the mainland has not yet taken action against the Taiwan authorities for "resisting reunification by force," and Taiwan's plan has stalled first.
2. Self-built submarines, imported parts
At this time, some people will ask why the cost of Taiwan's self-built submarines is so high today, and even the budget of subsequent submarines has far exceeded the cost of prototypes.
In fact, this is very easy to understand, because "Taiwan builds its own submarines", but the key systems are all imported.
According to some sources, when the Taiwan Shipyard built the "Haikun", it simply divided the technology it needed, which was "green", "yellow", and "red".
"Green" refers to equipment that can be produced by itself under Taiwan's existing technology.
"Yellow" refers to the fact that it is more difficult for Taiwan to make its own equipment.
And "red" refers to the equipment that under Taiwan's existing conditions, there is no research and development capability and can only rely on "imports" to solve the problem. These include submarine combat command systems, periscopes, torpedoes, missiles, and other core submarine equipment.
It can be seen from this that the "Haikun" is a combination of submarine construction technology and advanced submarine equipment from many countries, which also leads to a series of problems such as whether the various advanced technologies are matched and whether they can be effectively operated. This is also the reason why many people are not optimistic about this "Taiwan manufacturing plan".
(The "Sea Kun" is a product of multinational boat building technology)
In addition, the outside world has repeatedly discussed the pitted "scars" on the shell of the "Haikun," but the Taiwan side claims that it is a normal phenomenon due to the slight depression of the outer steel plate due to the lack of rib support. However, some people believe that there is no similar situation in the construction of submarines in other countries, and it is obvious that the technology of Taiwan's shipyard is not up to standard.
3. Reasons for Taiwan's "defense policy."
Obviously, there is a special reason why the Taiwan authorities are in a hurry to push forward this "defense policy" when they have not yet mastered the core technology for developing armaments.
First, it is because Taiwan's military strength is weak and its armaments are relatively backward.
Lu Lishi, the former captain of the Taiwan Navy, took the previous report of the Taiwan media as an example to illustrate that "the performance of the prototype has improved by 10 years compared with the current submarines of the Taiwan Navy", and the current "Stegosaurus" class submarines were launched in the 80s of the last century, and 10 years of progress on this basis is the 90s of the last century, that is to say, it has not yet entered the 21st century.
In other words, now that we have entered 2024, the Taiwan Navy still uses submarines from the last century.
(The Taiwan Navy uses submarines from the last century)
In addition, Lu Lishi also briefly summed up the predicament that the Taiwan military is now in in one sentence: The front line is tight, and the rear is tight, and this sentence obviously broke the DPP's dream of "resisting reunification by force."
Second, because of the mainland's frequent pressure, Lai Qingde also clearly understood the military gap between the two sides of the strait, and this undoubtedly stimulated his urgent demand for advanced armaments.
Whether it is Taiwan's "self-built submarines" or Taiwan's development of suicide unmanned boats, these are all decisions made by the Taiwan authorities in order to prevent the mainland's armed reunification and even to achieve the goal of "promoting reunification by force." However, as far as the current situation is concerned, it is obvious that the effect is far from what the DPP expected.
(The mainland's military activities against Taiwan have caused a sudden increase in the demands of the Taiwan authorities)
This leaves a dilemma for Lai's administration: whether this plan will continue to be carried out? How?
Of course, no matter what Lai Qingde decides, the general trend of peaceful development of the two sides of the strait and the process of cross-strait reunification will not be stalled because of this. Moreover, the mainland not only has full confidence in national reunification, but is also fully prepared to use its own strength to safeguard national territorial sovereignty and territorial integrity.