The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday confirmed media reports that it plans to purchase coastal defense cruise missile (CDCM) systems from the US, saying that they could be delivered by 2023, should Washington agree to sell.
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) asked the ministry to respond to rumors about plans to purchase CDCMs, a truck-mounted system of Harpoon anti-ship missiles made by Boeing Defense, Space & Security for mobile coastal defense.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Chang Che-ping (張哲平) said that the ministry and the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) had reviewed national missile production capabilities through 2025.
Photo: CNA
The review found that the nation is incapable of fielding sufficient missiles to annihilate 50 percent of enemy forces on Taiwanese shores in the event of a Chinese invasion, Chang said.
Taiwan has operated indigenous Hsiung Feng II subsonic anti-ship missile systems since 1988 and its supersonic variant, the Hsiung Feng III, since 2007.
After Tsai asked about annual production of the locally made missile systems, Chang said that he would have to verify the numbers.
Harpoon missiles are similar to the Taiwanese weapons, although the Hsiung Feng II has greater range and a faster cruising speed, CSIST president Art Chang (張忠誠) said, adding that the truck-borne Harpoons allow for comparatively greater mobility than the Hsiung Feng II, which needs to be towed.
Meanwhile, Chang Che-ping said that the ministry was not aware of Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu’s (吳釗燮) comments about potential Chinese People’s Liberation Army actions against Taiwan.
In a video interview with Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum on Tuesday, Wu said that Taiwan and the global community are watching Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong closely.
Asked if it were possible that China might deploy its military against Taiwan or in Hong Kong, Wu said that the Chinese government is trying to fully take over the administration in Hong Kong.
There is “also concern that China might take some military action against Taiwan,” he said. “That’s what I said all along: When the Chinese government is facing crisis domestically, the best way for it is to find a scapegoat outside, and Taiwan can be a very easy scapegoat for China.”
Some reports mistakenly reported Wu as saying that China’s next step would be to take Taiwan by force, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said yesterday.
Chang Che-ping told the committee that the military had contingency plans in place and was closely monitoring the Taiwan Strait, but it would not “make a blind move” based on a single comment.
Military readiness levels remain normal and adjustments would depend on developments in Hong Kong, which the military is closely monitoring, he said.
The MND has contingency plans in place for any Chinese invasion scenario, he said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,
MANAGING DIFFERENCES: In a meeting days after the US president signed a massive foreign aid bill, Antony Blinken raised concerns with the Chinese president about Taiwan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the US and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Talks between the two sides have increased over the past few months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues