英语论文网

of the most important elements which prevented Taiwan from being swallowed by PRC's diplomatic strangulation and military intimidation.The continued U.S arms sales to Taiwan after its diplomatic recognition of the PRC became even more important as it provides a unique official linkage between U.S and Taiwan. However, Taiwan has never been assured that it would be able to acquire desired weapons system from the U.S. The sense of insecurity has made Taiwan in a constant state of uncertainty in its military procurement policy. Furthermore, political constraints in U.S arms sales to Taiwan have made it almost impossible for Taiwan's military leaders to conduct long-term defence policy and planning.

Some observers have argued that the PRC's unsuccessful war against the Vietnam in 1979 ringed the first wake up call for the PRC's massive defence modernisation efforts. In the same year, U.S's de-recognition of the ROC also evoked in Taiwan an urgent desire to maintain a strong and self-reliant defence capability after the termination of the U.S-ROC Mutual Defence Treaty. Since then, Taiwan has devoted most of its resources in modernising defence capability with the focus on acquisition of advanced weapons systems to replace the country's inadequate and obsolete military hardware.

Politically, despite the recent easing of cross-strait tensions, PRC has still not renounced the use of force against Taiwan, and remains the major military threat to the ROC. Mainland China's military expansion in recent decades, propelled by double-digit annual growth in military expenditures, which many believed greatly exceeds its defence needs, has given rise to widespread misgivings about its intention in Taiwan and around the world. Much of mainland China's military build-up and many of its military exercises are designed with a war against Taiwan in mind. The most tangible evidence of this is the deployment along the mainland's southeast coast of over 1,300 missiles aimed at the island. The PRC has implemented a three-pronged virtual warfare strategy that aims to demoralise the ROC military, to intimidate and sow dissent among the Taiwanese people and to feign a legal basis for a war against Taiwan.

While relations between Taiwan and the PRC have improved over the past year, tensions remain, and unresolved issues regarding Taiwan's sovereignty and status continue to divide the two sides. The status of Taiwan creates a potentially dangerous situation that risks armed conflict if the relationship and its inherent tensions are not managed carefully by both sides. An armed conflict between PRC and Taiwan would impair security environment in the region and beyond. Thus, this research will attempt prove that despite the improved relations between the two countries, Taiwan's defence policy would still emphasises on the need to modernise its military, and, that mainland China would not budge with its one-China policy and Taiwan's military modernisation. The research will also attempt to prove that despite having a significant role in influencing Taiwan's defence policy, the U.S. have other interests to reduce the Taiwan Strait tensions.

目的-1.3OBJECTIVE

The increasingly serious situation between the PRC and Taiwan has emerged for several closely inter-related reasons. Since at least the mid 1990s, the PRC has sought to deter what it perceives as Taiwan's search for independence