China said yesterday it had successfully tested a missile intercept system in what analysts described as a show of its advanced air defense capabilities amid tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan.
“China conducted a test of ground-based mid-range missile interception technology within its territory, which achieved its objective,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said.
“This test is defensive in nature and not targeted at any other country and is consistent with the national defense policy of China,” Jiang told reporters.
PHOTO: AFP
Government response in Taiwan was muted, with the Ministry of National Defense saying it had no comment.
“We continue to monitor China’s latest weapons development and will continue to do so,” said Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖), spokesman for the ministry.
News of China’s test came soon after an announcement by a US official in Taipei that the Pentagon had approved the sale of Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan as part of a package passed by Congress more than a year ago.
Beijing has repeatedly voiced its opposition to the sales and urged Washington to cancel the deal.
The Chinese defense ministry had warned at the weekend that it reserved the right to take unspecified action if Washington followed through with the sale, which it called a “severe obstacle” to China-US military ties.
However, analysts said while China’s test would keep pressure on the US over deals with Taiwan, it was likely to have been conducted as a general show of force.
“It sounds pretty significant to me,” said Richard Bitzinger, an expert on China’s military at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“The information is pretty thin, but the critical fact is that they conducted a successful missile intercept,” he said.
Scott Harold, an analyst at RAND Corporation, agreed, saying: “I would be inclined to view the test as a stride, but how much of one is unclear in the absence of more information, towards a missile defense capability.”
Arthur Ding (丁樹範), a research fellow and China specialist at National Chengchi University, said the test sends a “political signal to the United States and to other countries that China is prepared for air operations, full-scale operations by whatever country.”
“There is no detailed information so it is very hard to assess how much China has achieved, but at least it can show a trend that air defense is an area of focus for the overall military modernization,” he said.
Beijing has poured money into its military in recent years as part of a major drive to upgrade the equipment used by the nation’s 2.3-million-strong armed forces.
A budget submitted to parliament in March showed that Chinese military spending rose 15.3 percent last year to US$69 billion, the latest in more than a decade-long string of double-digit increases.
Faced with growing concern overseas about its military intentions, Beijing frequently stresses the defensive nature of its armed forces.
“China’s defense modernization is for the legitimate needs of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” Jiang said yesterday.
The Global Times quoted senior military strategist Yang Chengjun as saying that the test had “ushered China into a new phase in terms of missile interception technologies.”
“China needs an improved capability and more means of military defense as the country faces increasing security threats,” Yang said.
In Taiwan, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), a member of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, said the test was China’s way of “telling the world that it has the capability to intercept ballistic missiles.”
Lin said it was not surprising, as many countries are developing anti-ballistic missile systems. He added, however, that he did not know whether the test was directly related to the US’ recent announcement of arms sales to Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) disagreed, saying the party thought it could be related to US arms sales to Taiwan.
He said China should not protest against the arms sales because they are in accordance with the US’ Taiwan Relations Act.
He added that China’s move would only increase Taiwanese feelings of intimidation and discontent with Beijing.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had neglected national defense and the test showed that his China-leaning policies had not stopped Beijing’s ambition to take Taiwan by force.
Wendell Minnick, Asia Bureau Chief at the military periodical Defense News, dismissed the linking of the missile test to Taiwan, which has no offensive missile capability.
“It’s China aiming missiles at Taiwan, not vice versa,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG, FLORA WANG, RICH CHANG AND STAFF WRITER
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat