The Taiwan Trap

- [Sam] This is the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter.

It can fly 267 kilometers per hour

and has advanced radar and torpedoes specifically designed

to find and destroy submarines.

In 2015, the government of Taiwan asked to purchase

12 of them from the United States.

Taiwan wanted these helicopters

in order to defend themselves against a potential invasion

from China, which has a massive submarine fleet.

The US has for decades sold Taiwan

a huge variety of its weapons,

so this was a routine request,

but in 2022, the deal suddenly collapsed.

Reporting revealed that the US was actually not responding

to its request and even pushing Taiwan to not buy them,

and it's because the US has become very concerned

that Taiwan's strategy for defending itself

from an invasion has some major flaws.

- I think it would've been the first time

that the United States formally denied a Taiwanese request

for something.

The consensus is Taiwan needs to do much more

to show that it is addressing this with urgency.

- [Sam] So what is Taiwan's plan

to fight off a Chinese invasion

and why is the US trying to change it?

(upbeat music continues)

The conflict between China and Taiwan started

almost a century ago.

In 1927, Chinese communists loyal to Mao Zedong began

fighting against the nationalist government ruled

by Chiang Kai-Shek and his allies.

More than 6 million people died in the ensuing civil war.

In 1949, the communist army won and the nationalists fled

to Taiwan just 130 kilometers offshore.

On the mainland, the communists established

the People's Republic of China, which for the sake

of clarity we'll call China, while the nationalists set up

their own authoritarian regime called