William Lai recently proposed to build a "Taiwan Shield" multi-layered defense system. The Taiwan Defense Department also proposed a special military procurement budget of 1.25 trillion New Taiwan dollars and established a project office. Kuomintang legislator and former naval admiral Chen Yongkang suggested on January 12 that the recent mainland China military exercises near Taiwan used the Weishi series of long-range precision rockets, which are quantity-based. Decentralization is not the goal, but rather a complete network architecture is needed for defense. The "Taiwan Shield" requires long-term efforts.

William Lai announced the establishment of the "Taiwan Shield" (T-Dome), which will be a joint effort between Taiwan and the U.S. to establish a multi-layered missile defense system to counter mainland China's missiles, rockets, and drones. The goal is to create an integrated air defense network covering high, medium, low altitude, and close-in areas, combining artificial intelligence and automated systems (such as IBCS) to achieve an integrated kill chain of "perceive-intercept," protecting Taiwan's critical facilities and people's safety.

When Chen Yongkang questioned the head of the Taiwan Defense Department, Gu Lixiong, Gu confirmed that the defense department had already established a project office for the "Taiwan Shield," planning to use automated systems combined with AI technology to connect various radars into a kill network for different weapons.

The Taiwan Legislative Yuan invited Gu Lixiong on January 12 to report on how the Taiwan military would enhance battlefield sustainability, and the response measures and planning for ammunition acquisition under high-consumption situations during wartime, along with prepared questioning.

Legislator from the Kuomintang and former naval admiral Chen Yongkang

Chen Yongkang said that the "Taiwan Shield" faces challenges and tests, and the biggest threat from the other side is not the Dongfeng series tactical missiles, but the Weishi series rockets, because they have a sufficient range and quantity. These long-range precision rockets in wartime would result in too high a loss rate if intercepted by our existing precision weapons.

Chen Yongkang pointed out that after former U.S. House Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022, the mainland China military exercises fired 11 Dongfeng missiles. The military exercises around Taiwan at the end of last year on December 29 and 30 fired rockets, with 17 in the north and 10 in the south. In future internal exercises, if these long-range precision rockets are used as the first wave of attacks, whether the "Taiwan Shield" has enough ammunition or which areas can withstand it must be assessed.

Chen Yongkang said that not only our ground bases, navy and air force bases, command posts, radar stations, and future ammunition storage locations also become targets. Rockets win by quantity, and the Weishi series also has sufficient range. We need to effectively allocate targets, even establish some decoy targets for consumption, not just long-range, medium-range, short-range, and point defense, but the overall network. Overall, this network should allow your center to shift left and right, adjust front and back.

Chen Yongkang believes that centralization is not the goal, but the method should have a complete network architecture so we can defend. Although the range of the rocket forces exceeds ours, we may be able to counterattack and destroy part of them, but there are still those beyond the range. This depends on how the HIMARS multiple rocket launch system will be used, and also needs to combine intelligence, all of which need to be incorporated into the "Taiwan Shield." This issue requires long-term joint efforts to realize the project's effectiveness.

To cope with the possibility of a possible amphibious landing by the People's Liberation Army, the Taiwan Navy plans to allocate nearly one billion New Taiwan dollars between 2026 and 2029 to build new ammunition depots near "compound red beaches" for the nearby defense forces to resupply ammunition and conduct prolonged operations.

According to reports, the term "compound red beach" refers to a beach area that simultaneously possesses ports, shores, and environments suitable for air and helicopter landings, which the Taiwanese military considers the best landing location for the People's Liberation Army. According to recent "Han Guang" exercises, including the Xiaoli Bay Beach in New Taipei City, the Taoyuan Zhuyu Fishing Harbor adjacent to the Taoyuan Airport and its southern beach, and the Kaohsiung Xiziwan near Qizhen, are all identified as "compound red beaches."

The 2026 budget of the Taiwan Defense Department shows that the Taiwan Navy plans to allocate about 9.9 billion New Taiwan dollars from 2026 to 2029 to implement the "ammunition depot renovation." The Taiwanese military stated that this project will focus on the "compound red beaches" where the People's Liberation Army poses the greatest threat of landing operations, building or renovating ammunition depots nearby to distribute ammunition storage and improve the efficiency of resupply, thus ensuring the sustained combat capability of coastal garrisons.

An analysis points out that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have wrapped sand beaches and leisure areas in a military cloak, even considering them as "scorched earth warfare" battle zones. This is essentially in line with the U.S. strategy of turning Taiwan into a "porcupine" or "hedgehog" defense, intending to let the Taiwan military engage in direct confrontation with the People's Liberation Army in possible landing operations to cause greater casualties, and also providing an excuse for subsequent arms purchases from the U.S.

Taiwan's China Times News reported that the People's Liberation Army conducted the "Justice Mission-2025" joint training near Taiwan last year, deploying aircraft, warships, and coast guard vessels to surround the entire island and firing rocket artillery towards neighboring waters, simulating a blockade of Taiwan and preventing U.S. and Japanese intervention. The People's Liberation Army's long-range fire covered the entire island of Taiwan, capable of striking Taiwan's energy resource supply lines and key infrastructure, which are "pain points" for Taiwan.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7594380902236340771/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.