Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te recently inspired Air Force officers by highlighting historical instances where smaller militaries triumphed over larger adversaries. His remarks, released on Tuesday, aimed to boost morale ahead of the upcoming annual war games. Despite Taiwan's robust objections, China has persistently conducted military exercises around the island for four years, asserting its sovereignty claim despite Taiwan's democratic governance.
Taiwan's armed forces, although significantly outnumbered by China's, remain steadfast in their defense. But Taiwan has been modernizing the military not only with new equipment like submarines but also by championing the idea of "asymmetric warfare," aimed at making its forces more mobile and difficult to attack. Examples include vehicle-mounted missiles and drones.
Lai, wearing camouflaged military fatigues and taking questions in front of a Taiwan-made Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter at an air base in central Taiwan, said military strength is not simply a mathematical question of addition and subtraction. "The amount of equipment is important, but it cannot solely represent the military power of a country," Lai said, according to video footage released by his office. "In history, there are many cases where the few have won out over the many, and there are countless ways to defeat old-fashioned enemies with new thinking.
" A senior Taiwan official said last month that this year's annual Han Kuang drills will be as close as poss.
