– Foreign Policy – James Holmes writes that Beijing can always outspend Taipei. It’s time to think small and mean.

– USNI News – A modern submarine force to deter China’s ambitions to take over Taiwan tops the island’s unmet defense needs.

– War Zone – Taiwan says it has started construction of a trio of stealthy missile corvettes with what appear to be racks for naval mines on the stern, as well as four dedicated minelayers.

– National Interest – Even a single boat can throw an opponent’s strategy askew in modern naval warfare, as both the Argentine and British navies learned during the Falklands War of 1982. Time for Taiwan to get new submarines.

– National Interest – We asked one of the world’s leading experts that very question.

– CIMSEC – A call for Taiwan’s navy to change its current acquisition priorities and embrace an unconventional-asymmetric doctrine of sea denial.

– South China Morning Post – Taiwan’s navy has commissioned two former US Perry-class guided missile frigates to boost the self-ruled island’s anti-submarine defences, with the island’s president vowing not to back down in the face of growing military threats from Beijing.

– War on the Rocks – Last year, Taiwan’s Chief of the General Staff, Adm. Lee Hsi-ming quietly proposed a revolutionary new approach to Taiwan’s defense, called the Overall Defense Concept. This new concept, if effectively implemented, could turn the tables and give Taiwan a fighting chance of preventing China from being able to take it by force.

– War Zone – The Taiwanese Navy is in desperate need of the additional ships to at all keep pace with China, but they’re still years away from entering service.

– StraitsTimes – Taiwan plans to build eight submarines to bolster its current fleet of four ageing vessels, its navy chief said yesterday.

– USNI News – The Taiwan Navy (ROCN) announced a major overhaul plan that includes indigenous production of four 10,000-ton destroyers and 10-15 frigates in 2014. The intention to build up to eight diesel-electric attack submarines with displacement between 1,200 to 3,000 tons is also part of the 20-year modernization plan. The plan is part of a broader effort to switch from reliance on foreign military sales to domestic production in key areas of Taiwan’s defense needs.

– National Interest – Tsai Ing-wen must make maritime-strategic affairs a priority as president.

– USNI News – Taiwan-watchers waited for long four years for new arms sales, but their patience was not met with large reward when the news about imminent arms sale to Taiwan emerged at the end of November.

– Reuters – Taiwan has allocated T$3 billion ($92.55 million) over four years, beginning next year, to launch a long-awaited program for the island to build its own diesel-electric submarines.

– Real Clear Defense – It may be a sign of the times that Taiwan seldom comes up during Q&A sessions following Asia talks these days. But it does sometimes—especially with savvy but lay audiences. So it was this week with the Financial Technology Forum, a gathering of IT professionals on Goat Island in Newport. Question: in light of China’s rise to diplomatic, economic, and military eminence and well-documented ambition to rule Taiwan, is it inevitable that the island will find itself subsumed within the mainland’s communist regime?

– War is Boring – Locked in an an undersea arms race with China, Taiwan has decided to build its first domestically-produced attack submarines.

– USNI News – The Republic of China Navy has commissioned the first in a planned class of a dozen domestically constructed guided missile corvettes.

– The Diplomat – Taiwan’s got a new tool in its sea-denial toolkit.

– Defense News – The Taiwan Navy received the first prototype of the stealthy Tuo Jiang-class catamaran corvettes, the PGG 618, in a ceremony Dec. 23 at Suao Port, on Taiwan’s east coast.

– USNI News – After waiting on the U.S. to make good on plans to develop a diesel electric attack submarine (SSK) for almost 15 years, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence announced it was kicking off its own domestic attack submarine construction program this week.

– USNI News – The Republic of China Navy has taken delivery of what could be the first of a new class of stealth corvettes, according to local press reports.