Despite efforts by the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to lower tensions in the Taiwan Strait, the Chinese military continues to build up its missile threat against its neighbor, according to recent reports of modernization efforts at missile bases in China’s Fujian Province.
Reports late last month said recent US spy satellite imagery had uncovered what appeared to be evidence of new missile launch pads in Fujian Province, including in Xianyou in the province’s southeast, directly -opposite Taiwan.
However, according to the latest issue of British defense magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly, the imagery was likely evidence of modernization of an old People’s Liberation Army (PLA) missile brigade under direct control of the Nanjing Military Region rather than new missile bases.
Military analysts suspect that command of the ground support missile brigade at Xianyou, which became operational in 1993, was recently shifted to the Second Artillery Corps, which oversees China’s conventional and nuclear ballistic missile forces.
Prior to falling under control of the Second Artillery’s 52 Base, the missile brigade around Xianyou comprised about 100 Dong Feng 11 (DF-11) short-range (300km) ballistic missiles (SRBM).
As part of ongoing modernization efforts, those missiles are now believed to be in the process of being replaced by the more modern 600km-range DF-11As, Jane’s said.
The DF-11 is a solid-fuel, road-mobile SRBM carried on transporter erector launcher (TEL) vehicles.
In earlier reports, Kanwa Asia Defense Review claimed that along with new equipment, the base may also have been given a new mission, Jane’s reported.
The Second Artillery’s main ballistic missile base in Fujian, 817 Brigade, is located in Yongan City. Six brigades of DF-11As are believed to be based there.
The brigades at Xianyou and Yongan are part of the PLA’s ballistic missile force, estimated at 1,500 missiles, targeted at Taiwan, an arsenal that includes medium-range DF-15s and DF-16s, as well as hundreds of cruise missiles.
Commenting on the imagery, Kanwa Asia Defense Review claimed that two of the new launch pads were constructed in northern Fujian, with one located 100km northwest of Fuzhou, less than 260km from Taipei.
At least two launch pads have also been detected on mountaintops in the Huashuang area, about 270km from Taipei. Yet another launch pad has been spotted 209km from Taipei, which the magazine said was also built prior to 2007 and is now under the control of No. 820 artillery brigade based in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province.
However, Gary Li, an intelligence analyst at UK-based Exclusive Analysis, said that without closer analysis of the imagery, it was impossible to rule out the possibility that some of the so-called launch pads seen around Fujian were fake TELs — which the PLA has reportedly been fielding in increasing numbers to deceive satellites — or long-range multiple rocket launchers such as the PHL-03s used by the army.
Commenting on the reports, local military experts said China had also strengthened its ability to protect its ballistic missiles with air-defense systems.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman David Lo (羅紹和) said the ministry has stepped up its monitoring of China’s military deployments and movements and would work out response strategies to protect national security.
The reports come amid news that three Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) surface-to-air missile defense units acquired by Taiwan in the late 1990s were recently returned to Taiwan after being upgraded to PAC-3 configuration in the US.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
RSS