In a bid to rally Taiwan’s flagging independence forces, President Chen Shui-bian’s New Year’s resolution seems to be provoking mainland China with a push announced this week to buy US arms, including eight submarines and a dozen sub-hunting aircraft. For five years, as China has created a high-tech attack force designed to overwhelm Taiwan, the island’s politicians have batted around a US-approved package of sophisticated military equipment worth between $10 and $19 billion. Full Story