All our pilots are very fond of flying it. We have strong confidence to secure our airspace across the Taiwan Strait and defend our country. But the IDF is also a symbol of the deep-seated problems faced by Taiwan's armed forces. Taiwan faces other military challenges. Because of its international isolation, Taiwan in many ways has missed out on the technological revolution that has reshaped modern warfare in recent years.
Analysts say such shortcomings increase the island's vulnerability to an attack from mainland China.
And the new airplanes and ships we purchase are not working very well. Experts say this helps explain the unusually high rate of crashes of recently acquired F-16 and Mirage jets and the government's concern about retaining qualified personnel in the military. Taiwan's vulnerability was underscored by the 1996 missile crisis in the Taiwan Strait when China sought to intimidate Taiwan by firing missiles into the surrounding seas. The threat prompted the Clinton administration to deploy U.S. aircraft carriers in the western Pacific. Those represent a growing force for intimidation.