At a ceremony for Taiwan’s military academy, new Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo Li-hsiung spoke bluntly about the danger he sees across the Taiwan Strait.
While Taipei “hasn’t given up dialogue with China,” Koo told hundreds of graduates, “the only one who does not accept the status quo of maintaining peace and stability and wants to push both sides of the Taiwan Strait to the brink of war is China, not Taiwan.”
President Lai Ching-te has entrusted Koo — a 65-year-old civilian who shares a name with a legendary Chinese diplomat, as well as the British “Iron Duke” of Wellington who defeated Napoleon Bonaparte — with preparing for the worst.
Koo is only the third civilian defense minister since a 2002 legal amendment encouraging such appointments. One lasted less than a week and the other fewer than 100 days.
This time, the expectations and stakes are much higher.
The nightmare scenario is an attack by China, which insists Taiwan is its territory and has refused to rule out an invasion. Many experts say an effective defense will require accelerating reforms within the armed forces. But this may require overcoming resistance from some change-averse mandarins and an opposition-controlled legislature.
“In the face of the enemy’s threats, we will do our best to obtain equipment, weapons and platforms that meet operational needs and are suitable for asymmetric warfare,” Koo declared at the ceremony, also vowing to “introduce advanced and practical training” for troops. “We must build the nation’s army into a modern force that can protect Taiwan, and fight and win wars.”
Soldiers take part in the first day of annual military drills in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on July 22. Koo has sought to make their training more practical. © Reuters
A reminder of the risks facing the Asian democracy and semiconductor powerhouse of 23.5 million people came days after Lai and his team took office in May. China swiftly encircled Taiwan and its outlying islands with military drills, which Beijing described as “punishment” for the new Democratic Progressive Party president’s support of Taiwanese sovereignty.
The drills were only one in a series of actions that have raised alarm about Chinese intentions. China’s leadership has refused to engage with Taipei’s elected government since the DPP took over in 2016. Meanwhile, it has stepped up military incursions and sought to undermine the DPP, including by backing opposition politicians and giving them a platform. China has also stopped recognizing maritime boundaries in the strait that both sides had respected for decades.
Koo is no stranger to the issues, having headed the National Security Council under Lai’s predecessor Tsai Ing-wen.
Ivan Kanapathy, a former U.S. Marine and senior official on the U.S. National Security Council, said Koo is likely to be “the first civilian defense minister of consequence since Taiwan’s democratization” in the early 1990s.
“He comes into the job with a deep understanding of the larger political context of Taiwan-People’s Republic of China-United States relations and a keen appreciation for the shortcomings of Taiwan’s defensive capabilities,” Kanapathy said.
