【Editor's Note】This article is authorized by the author's pastoral album in the wild and reproduced from "Bay Vision".
Recently, some media reported on the island that with the consent of the US side, the Taiwan military plans to complete a new wave of project bidding for the Taiping Island runway within this year, extending the existing 1150-meter-long runway by 350 meters to 1500 meters, according to expert analysis, once the runway is extended to 1500 meters, not only all the existing fighters of the Taiwan military can take off and land, but also allow the US military aircraft F-18 to take off and land.
Taiping Island is located in the north of the South China Sand Islands central Zheng He group of reefs in the northwest corner of an island, is the mainland's inherent territory, controlled by the mainland Taiwan Province, in terms of geographical location, Taiping Island is only 190 kilometers away from the mainland Fiery Cross Island, 1600 kilometers away from the Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan Province, from the perspective of military strategy, Taiping Island can be used as an observation station to inspect the activities of various countries in the South China Sea, at the economic level, can be used as an important supply station for transportation arteries, known as the "heart of the South China Sea".
People on the island expressed their opinions on the proposed extension of the runway on Taiping Island, and Huang Weihan, a famous mouth, believed that in the past, because the US side was afraid that Taiwan's extension of the Taiping Island runway would cause regional tensions, it did not agree with the Expansion Plan of the Taiwan military, and even Ma Ying-jeou's plan to go to Taiping Island during his reign was also opposed by AIT (American Association in Taiwan), and now this issue has been thrown out again, and relevant people say that the US side has relaxed.
To put it bluntly, the bay itself has no right to decide, whether to extend the runway is mainly to see whether the United States does not agree with it, and in recent years, as the mainland's military activities in the South China Sea have become more and more frequent, and the so-called second island chain has gradually gone deep blue, the United States will naturally be nervous, not only will it routinely create tension in the South China Sea under the banner of "free navigation" every month, and even recently it has been rumored that the Taiwan authorities will deploy a second long-range early warning radar station, and once the early warning radar is established, the surveillance scope not only covers the southwest airspace of Taiwan. Vietnam as well as the interior of Chinese mainland can also be monitored.
Extending the runway of Taiping Island, what does this mean? The existing main fighter on the island, the F-16, needs about 1,000 meters to land on the runway, the P-3C anti-submarine aircraft needs a 975-meter runway to land, and if the Taiping Island runway is extended to 1,500 meters, Taiwan's existing fighters can take off and land here. What is more interesting is that once the runway is extended, it will provide assistance for the "US military to aid Taiwan" in the possible battle in the Taiwan Strait.
Of course, more people believe that in the future war of reunification, the United States is absolutely impossible to send troops, as the top US general Millie said, "In the future, the support of the United States to Taiwan can only be the same as today's degree to Ukraine." Zhao Shaokang, a famous taiwanese, believes that Milley's remarks are enough to show that the strategy of the United States is clear, so the Taiwanese people should not have any illusions about the United States sending troops to help Taiwan.
Therefore, there is also news that the Taiwan military wants to expand the runway is actually a hype issue, since when that day comes, the United States will not send troops, the expansion of the runway is naturally not for the service of US military aircraft, as for assisting the Taiwan military to strengthen the military deployment on Taiping Island, this is even more impossible, as we all know, the most important feature of Taiping Island is "easy to attack and difficult to defend", so there are only about 100 Taiwan troops stationed on the island.
This is because the Taiwan authorities also know that as far as the reunification war is concerned, it is not of great significance for the mainland to take a single Taiping Island, and if it is to do something, then it is necessary to directly take Taiben Island.
Therefore, Shen Fuxiong, a Taiwanese celebrity, said in the program "Shaokang War Room" a few days ago, "I have never worried about what war will happen between the Diaoyu Islands and Taiping Island, such as Taiping Island, in fact, the mainland's attitude towards Taiwan is very friendly, because Taiwan's role in Taiping Island is the mainland's agent." ”
However, Shen Fuxiong also warned Zhao Shaokang at the same time, "I don't care about Taiping Island or other places, but Zhao Shaokang, you must know that Taipeng Jinma cannot fight, you just need to remember this, and you have hope to take office in 2024." And for Shen Fuxiong's later words, whether it is Zhao Shaokang or Guo Zhengliang, they all smiled and did not show anything, probably they are also very clear, once they really want to fight, the battlefield will definitely be on the main island of Taiwan.
As for the sensitivity of expanding the Taiping Island runway, both the mainland and the relevant people on the island think that it is very sensitive, and the Hong Kong media pointed out that if the Taiwan military expands the runway of Taiping Island to serve the United States, the mainland will certainly take action, and guo Zhengliang, a scholar on the island, also said that there are PLA fighters on Fiery Cross Island, which is only 190 kilometers away from Taiping Island, and how can you defend Taiping Island?
But then again, the author still believes that whether it is Taiping Island, which is currently hyped, or Dongsha Island, which was hyped up by the Japanese media last year, in the face of the war of reunification, it will definitely not become a warm-up battle.
Regarding the deployment of unification, whether from the balance of international effects or cost effects, it must be a real "blitzkrieg", and this civil war must also avoid huge spillover effects, so for any possible intervention by the United States should be absolutely regionally rejected, from this point of view, it does not make much sense to discuss a single outer island war.