Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) The Republic of China will formally enter "strategic cooperation" with the United States when its military builds up the "net assessment" capability next year, Ministry of National Defense (MND) sources said Monday.
According to MND sources, the U.S. military began to assist the ROC in building up "net assessment" capability after the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis during which time mainland China lobbed missiles and conducted live-fire military exercises at Taiwan's doorstep in an attempt to affect the result of the ROC's first direct presidential election.
At present, the sources said, several teams of ROC military officers are receiving relevant training in the United States. "Our armed forces are expected to acquire full 'net assessment' capability next year," said an MND official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official explained that "net assessment" refers to a quantitative research system comprising a set of calculating software programs and highly efficient hardware facilities.
"The U.S.-developed 'net assessment' system will enable us to evaluate all possible scenarios through simulated warfare on the basis of quantitative data and information," the official said, adding that with the assistance of this highly sophisticated assessment system, the ROC military will be able to shed subjective, arbitrary elements in traditional military strength evaluation.
With the return of ROC military officers from the United States sometime next year, the official went on, Taiwan's armed forces will establish their own data banks and use the U.S.-developed software and hardware facilities to work out defense guidelines and strategy in line with the ROC's basic defense policy and more efficiently distribute the country's defense resources.
In fact, the official said, the ROC military already employed the "net assessment" system and spirit in this year's "Hunching No. 16" combined services military exercise to evaluate its capability to launch a counterattack in case mainland China uses M-class missiles to attack Taiwan.
The official said as the ROC will formally unify its military command and administrative systems from February 2001, it badly needs an objective military strength assessment system to enable is civilian defense minister to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the country's overall defense resources and armed forces structure.
According to the new defense law scheduled to take effect next February, the General Staff Headquarters will come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense.
In preparation for the overhaul of the ROC's defense system, the official said the MND's strategic planning department will open a new "net assessment" office to handle integrated strategic environment evaluation.
"The inauguration of the new office will offer our defense minister more accurate, objective and unbiased counsel in formulating defense policy and resources distribution plans," the official noted.
According to the official, ROC-U.S. military exchanges have expanded and upgraded after the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait crisis. By 2001, he said, the ROC will become the third country to have the "net assessment" capability, after the United States and Israel.
The official further said the MND looks forward to seeing further breakthroughs in ROC-U.S. military exchanges after the Bush administration is inaugurated next month. (By Sofia Wu)
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