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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| 'A lesson for Taiwan's coastal defence': How France's ill-fated 1884 invasion is remembered |
| 2024-01-12 |
| [France24] The Taiwanese military regularly holds drills on what it calls "red beaches" — coastal areas deemed vulnerable to large enemy landings. As Beijing threatens to seize the island by force, Taiwanese historians and military planners are looking at past invasion attempts. Some say that a daring French amphibious attack on Tamsui, north of Taiwan, still has valuable lessons for the country's defence planners despite taking place 140 years ago. The sound of crashing surf almost covers the noise of airplanes landing and taking off every few minutes from Taoyuan international airport, the main transport hub to get into Taiwan. Fishermen on the Zhuwei beach throw their lines, staring at the horizon under thick, dark clouds. This stretch of sand on Taiwan's northern coast looks deceptively normal, but it's at the centre of sophisticated war games by Beijing and Washington. These simulations often include an attempt by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to land troops there in a bid to capture Taiwan's main airport as well as the port of Taipei, whose cranes are clearly visible from the beach. Both infrastructures, which would be critical in case of an invasion to bring in reinforcement, are within a 10km radius. The centre of Taiwan's capital with its presidential office and government institutions is only 35km away. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 So why didn't the Allies just invade at Cherbourg, ya know, to get the port? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2024-01-12 07:49 |