As the government calls on China to withdraw short-range ballistic missiles deployed across the Taiwan Strait, China is quietly upgrading longer-range missiles such as the Dong Feng-21 to give it more options in intimidating Taiwan, defense sources said.
The Dong Feng-21, a medium-range ballistic missile with a maximum range of 2,000km, is now considered one of the options that China could consider using against Taiwan in addition to short-range missiles such as Dong Feng-11 and Dong Feng-15.
It is deployed in inland China, mainly Jiangxi Province. Jiangxi is next to Fujian Province, where hundreds of Dong Feng-11 and Dong Feng-15 missiles are deployed at fixed or mobile bases.
It is based on a submarine-launched ballistic missile and became operational in 1985.
In recent years, China has been developing new variants of the missile to make it more accurate and lethal.
It has conducted a series of tests on the new variants, but little is known about them.
In early July last year, China tested the Dong Feng-21A, one of new variants of the Dong Feng-21 missile family.
Two Dong Feng-21As were fired from mobile platforms in Jiangxi toward target sites in Gangsu Province.
The results of the tests were not known, but it was believed that certain new capabilities of the Dong Feng-21A were proven in the tests.
A recent report by a Japanese newspaper said China tested the Dong Feng-21 in December, in which the missile carried multiple warheads. China denied conducting the test.
A Taiwanese army general, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he does not think China will use the Dong Feng-21 against Taiwan.
"It would be a waste of money for China. They develop longer-range missiles like the Dong Feng-21 surely for bigger and farther targets than Taiwan," the general said.
"But if China does withdraw, as urged by our government leaders, the short-range missiles deployed across the Taiwan Strait, it will have to choose the Dong Feng-21 as the new weapon to intimidate us," he said.
"If that is the case, we will have to think about the possible consequences. The Dong Feng-21 will be much more difficult to intercept than the short-range ones. Its payload is also much bigger."
The military has only limited capabilities against short-range ballistic missiles. Such capabilities are based on the Patriot PAC-II Plus missile bought from the US.
The Patriot PAC-III, which is still being tested, is thought to be able to counter the Dong Feng-21.
Retired US navy rear admiral Eric McVadon said at an international conference on Taiwan security in Taipei last month that the Patriot PAC-III is expected to be lethal against the Dong Feng-21.
However good the PAC-III is claimed to be, the military has yet to decide whether to buy a weapons system still under development.
A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the shrinking defense budget was forcing the military to consider more carefully whether it was worthwhile deploying a comprehensive missile defense system.
"There will never be a perfect missile defense system. It needs to be upgraded all the time depending on what kinds of missiles China has in its inventory," the official said.
"We used to focus on threats from short-range missiles. We spent a lot of money building a shield against these missiles. Now we have new threats from the Dong Feng-21. We do not know what will come next. Where will our spending stop in the building of defenses against ballistic missiles?"
Some military leaders have suggested the development of offensive capabilities as the best way to neutralize military threats from China. The military has already acquired certain offensive capabilities but is still far from being a match for China.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS