Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accused China yesterday of deploying more advanced missiles along its coast before the inauguration of cross-strait charter flights.
The Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that China recently deployed Russian-made S-300PMU surface-to-air missiles to replace older models of the same missile at its air defense bases along the southern coast.
The new S-300PMUs have a range of more than 200km, surpassing the 80km and 120km range of the older models, the report said.
It said the missiles had been deployed at bases in Fujian Province’s Xiamen (廈門), Shantou (汕頭) and Longtian (龍田) cities.
The newspaper said the missiles’ range put Taiwanese air space within their ambit, which would put tremendous pressure on the Taiwanese Air Force.
DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference at the legislature yesterday that the developments showed that while Beijing engages in negotiations with Taiwan, it is still preparing for military conflict.
He said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung’s (吳伯雄) remark that China was unlikely to launch a missile attack against Taiwan was naive.
China has not abandoned its ambition of annexing the country, he said.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that while China continued to upgrade its weapons systems, KMT legislators blocked the country’s weapon purchase programs, leaving Taiwan unable to procure advanced weapons.
The newspaper said that in addition to deploying the S-300PMUs, China had recently built a new ballistic missile base on its southern coast.
It said that China had deployed more advanced Dong Feng-15A ballistic missiles to replace the Dong Feng-15s at bases in Jiangxi’s Leping City (樂平).
The Ministry of National Defense declined to comment on the report yesterday.
Approached by reporters at the ROC Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County, yesterday morning, ministry spokeswoman Major General Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) also declined to comment.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
Also see: EDITORIAL: Has Ma been hypnotized on defense?
Also see: Sources reinforce US role in arms sales
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS