The submarine-launched harpoon missiles now being added to Taiwan’s military arsenal add a “new and important level of risk for a Chinese invasion force” an American expert said on Friday.
Delivery of the sea-skimming supersonic missiles with a range of about 125km was revealed this week by the Ministry of National Defense.
The sale has been in process since 2005 and was announced to the US Congress, as required by law, in 2008. However, it was not previously known that delivery was underway.
“Though this sale started during the Bush administration, it is also consistent with the Obama administration’s more recent interest in helping Taiwan improve its asymmetric military capabilities against attack from China,” International Assessment and Strategy Center (IASC) senior fellow Rick Fisher said.
Taiwan has only two Hai Lung-class submarines capable of using the harpoon, but if they each carry 10, they could seriously damage up to 20 large amphibious assault ships.
“When you add these submarine-launched cruise missiles to the air-launched harpoons already equipping Taiwan’s F-16s and its new land and ship-based supersonic Hsiung-Feng anti-ship missiles, Taiwan is clearly making progress toward assembling a missile-based deterrent,” Fisher said.
Fisher said the harpoons could be “critical” for Taiwan because the new “center of gravity” for a Chinese military attack against the island would be an invasion.
“This has been the focus of Taiwan-related Chinese military modernization and expansion activities for most of the past decade,” he said.
He added that Beijing feared democracy on Taiwan more than any other external political force and remained committed to its destruction.
Taiwan should do everything it can, he said, to reduce China’s confidence in the success of a military invasion.
“It is certainly in America’s long-term interest that a free Taiwan survive and thrive, so it would be logical for Washington to enable more asymmetric capabilities for Taiwan,” he said.
Fisher said that one way would be to help Taiwan develop accurate 300km to 400km range ballistic missiles that could carry large numbers of sensor-fused munitions. These are small food-can size munitions capable of finding a ship or tank and then firing an explosively-formed molten projectile that can cut through most armor.
“They could also be used to damage or sink a hundred of the ships that China would use for an invasion of Taiwan,” Fisher said, adding that China had recently developed and deployed its own sensor-fused munitions and so there would be no issue of military imbalance.
However, in an actual battle, the use of the munitions would favor the defender — Taiwan.
“With 50 missiles carrying 20 sensor-fused munitions each, Taiwan could threaten 1,000 Chinese invading platforms,” Fisher said.
‘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 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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS