Taiwan's special forces set sights on China threat

Kuei Jen (Taiwan), Mar 26: The routines of a typical March day in Taiwan are abruptly shattered by a mock attack, as ''terrorists'' kidnap a senior government leader sending the government's elite special forces into action.

Within minutes, troops cascade down ropes from a helicopter hovering over the building where the leader is being held. When the smoke of an ensuing gunbattle clears, the terrorists are dead and the kidnapped leader escorted from the building by the crack team of soldiers dressed in grey-and-white fatigues.

This staged search-and-rescue mission may be just a simulation, but Taiwan's leaders and the military's elite troops who would carry out such missions take the threat of attacks like this very seriously.

The most likely culprit in the sights of Taiwan's Army Aviation and Special Forces Command comes from China, which has threatened war if the island ever declares formal independence.

These troops would likely find themselves at the front lines if war were to break out between Taiwan and China, which considers the democratically ruled island a wayward province since its split from the mainland at the end of a civil war in 1949.

''My main mission right now is to hone my skills so I can carry out my mission in accordance with the orders of my commander,'' says private first class Si Hao, 22, who has been in the army for two years, standing bolt upright to attention.

Si and his peers made the grade to train for the special forces after undergoing a rigorous selection process. Troops then train for a variety of missions, including anti-terrorist, parachute insertion, amphibious assaults and reconnaissance.

Training and motivation are essential. Taiwan's army of 130,000 ground troops is outnumbered more than 10-to-one by China's People's Liberation Army, which has 1.4 million ground forces.

Growing Threat

China and Taiwan were at war for three decades after the Nationalists fled to the island in 1949, with the two sides engaging in sporadic exchanges of fire and stealth landings on each other's turf as recently as the 1970s.

While such assaults have stopped, Taiwan still feels a threat from China, which has said that military spending for 2007 will jump nearly 18 percent, its fastest growth in a decade.

China's planned military budget of about 45 billion dollar dwarfs Taiwan's military spending, which has been declining in real terms and stood at a modest 7.6 billion dollars last year.

Despite the threat from long-range weaponry such as advanced aircraft and missiles, training at Taiwan's special forces base focuses on close-quarters battle. In a hangar on the base, soldiers dressed in martial arts uniforms punch and kick each other in a fierce display of unarmed combat.

Other troops in full combat fatigues demonstrate an array of high-and-low tech weaponry and gadgets, from sub-machine guns to cross-bows and radio equipment.

''Combining tradition and technology when it comes to war, every member of the special forces must have this kind of fighting ability,'' said Lieutenant General Wang Kuo-chiang, commander of the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command.

Close quarter fighting is what it may come to in the event of an attack by China.

Taiwan's military and analysts increasingly feel that China would avoid an amphibious invasion and rather opt for a surprise attack against key installations and so-called ''de-capitation strikes'' aimed at Taiwan leaders to win back the island.

''The plan would involve the assassination of pro-independence members of Taiwan's government and incorporate pro-unification elements that would usher in a new government,'' said Wendell Minnick, Asia Bureau Chief of Defense News.

Taiwan's special forces would try to thwart such missions, including the 10,000 troops of the Military Police Command that defend key government installations.

''They are no-nonsense and clearly are prepared to defend Taiwan against a mainland attack. If China invades, these troops will be the first to see battle and clearly will not hesitate to defend the island,'' said Minnick.

Reuters

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