Taiwan’s long-range radar, the Surveillance Radar Program (SRP), might already have been compromised by China, according to a Jane’s Defence Weekly report.
Quoting Washington and Taipei sources, this week’s edition says that China has built a large radar system of its own that can interfere with Taiwan’s SRP signals, adding that China has a political motivation to match Taiwan’s huge investment in the radar system.
“By doing so, Beijing demonstrates that it can win the arms race with Taipei — a move that could be part of a wider propaganda campaign to demoralize Taiwan and increase the pressure for unification,” the magazine said.
Meanwhile, the Washington Times reported in a front-page story that there is “rising domestic resistance” in Taiwan to US pressure to expand a missile defense system on in Taiwan that could detect long-range missile threats from China.
Quoting a delegation of “high-level Taiwanese diplomats,” the newspaper reported that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been “enduring so much domestic pressure” from voters questioning why the nation needs towers to detect long-range missiles that would not target Taiwan.
The charges came directly from the leader of the delegation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Policy Planning Director-General Jieh Wen-chieh (介文汲), during a meeting with editors and reporters at the newspaper.
It was a “rare public acknowledgment of rising domestic resistance,” the newspaper said.
Later, US Congressional sources in Washington with close ties to Taiwan said they were “completely unaware” of any significant resistance to the radar installations.
US House of Representatives Armed Services seapower subcommittee chairman Randy Forbes has called for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to explore the costs and benefits of merging Taiwan’s early-warning radar with US missile and sensor systems.
A number of radar installations have been built along Taiwan’s western coastline and Jieh told the Washington Times that some in Taiwan are resisting the idea of expanding the system.
He said the Ma administration believed the radar system helped both Taiwan and the US.
Jieh is quoted as saying: “It’s not my personal criticism, but a lot of people’s criticism in Taiwan is that: ‘Hey, why do we, Taiwan, need such big radar towers that can detect the inner land of mainland China? We don’t need that actually.’ That’s some people’s argument.”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
ONE LAST TALK: While Xi said that Taiwan was a ‘red line,’ Biden, in what is likely his last meeting with Xi as president, called for an end to China’s military activity around Taiwan China’s military intimidation and economic coercion against Taiwan are the main causes of tensions that are destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei said yesterday while thanking US President Joe Biden for expressing Washington’s firm stance of maintaining peace and stability in the region. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on Saturday for their third meeting and their first talks in seven months on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. It was likely Biden’s last meeting as president with Xi. During their conversation, Biden reiterated the US’ opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” from either
Taiwan would participate in the 2026 APEC summit to be hosted by China after Beijing promised it would ensure the personal safety of attendees, Taiwanese national security sources said yesterday. The APEC Leaders’ Machu Picchu Declaration announced yesterday said that China would host the APEC summit in 2026. Beijing proposed hosting the summit shortly before this year’s gathering began on Friday, a national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many APEC members expressed concerns about China hosting the event and said that prior communication over the decision was insufficient, the official said. Taiwan brought up concerns about legal “guidelines” China announced in
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