Taipei
\nTaiwan is responding to China\u2019s arms build-up by developing missiles and interceptors of its own that could reduce Beijing\u2019s military advantage over the self-ruled island, defence experts say.<\/p>\n
Since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Taiwan has deployed one set of missiles, perfected another and sped production of a third, the analysts say, in the latest sign of how it\u2019s handling a Chinese military threat that is raising the chances of an armed confrontation.<\/p>\n
Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken a hard line against advocates of independence for the self-governed island democracy and has sent warships, bombers and fighter planes on training missions circling the island in a show of strength.<\/p>\n
While Beijing has an increasingly overwhelming military advantage, Taiwan\u2019s missile systems advance its odds of holding off China in asymmetrical warfare, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. The term refers to effective resistance of an enemy with targeted firepower rather than overwhelming force.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaiwan with limited resources can only invest in the area that would create some kind of asymmetrical advantage, which would dissuade the Chinese from taking actions,\u201d Huang said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Tsai has committed more or at least expressed willingness to invest more in the asymmetrical capability.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two sides have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, and China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan. Beijing has not ruled out using force to unify the sides, a threat it has highlighted amid Tsai\u2019s continuing rejection of its demand that both interact as parts of a single Chinese nation.<\/p>\n
Hsiung Feng IIE missiles built in Taiwan have been deployed to hit military bases in China up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away, said David An, senior research fellow with the policy incubator Global Taiwan Institute in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Backing up those improvements, the locally developed Tien Kung system can now intercept Chinese missiles at ranges of up to 200 kilometers , An said. PAVE PAW, a US long-range early warning radar system located in Taiwan\u2019s high central mountain range, would track incoming missiles or aircraft.<\/p>\n
Taiwanese Defence Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi declined to confirm deployment of the Hsiung Feng IIE missiles after military news website Kanwa Defense Review posted photos indicating they were situated about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of the capital Taipei near the island\u2019s major international airport. Kanwa did not answer requests for comment.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Taiwan\u2019s missile program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are looking more at building their land-based military capabilities,\u201d said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.<\/p>\n
To pressure Tsai into meeting its demands, the communist leadership has flown military aircraft near the island a dozen times and passed China\u2019s only functioning aircraft carrier through the 160-kilometer (100-mile) ocean strait separating them.<\/p>\n
China has a powerful arsenal of missiles targeting Taiwan and raised its military budget by 8.1 percent this year, compared to Taiwan\u2019s increase of about 2 percent in 2017-2018. China is building warships at a world-setting pace, while also developing stealth fighters and bomb delivering vehicles that travel at up to six times the speed of sound.<\/p>\n
Military experts call the deployment of the Hsiung Feng IIE missiles likely. \u201cIt has been successfully developed,\u201d said Andrew Yang, a former Taiwan defence minister and current secretary general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve test fired many times and called it successful.\u201d China and Taiwan have never fought a full-scale war, though in the late 1950s China shelled outlying islands controlled by Taiwan without taking them. Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou eased tension during his 2008-2016 term by allowing talks with China on Beijing\u2019s terms, but frictions have resumed under Tsai.<\/p>\n
Success in an asymmetric war would hinge on Taiwan\u2019s budget, the ability of its hardware and China\u2019s attack strategy, military analysts say.<\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s current crop of missiles can probably hit ships and sink transport vessels, An said. Taiwan should focus too on resisting an amphibious landing, which the People\u2019s Liberation Army Navy \u201chas not demonstrated the ability to do without significant cost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taipei Taiwan is responding to China\u2019s arms build-up by developing missiles and interceptors of its own that could reduce Beijing\u2019s military advantage over the self-ruled island, defence experts say. Since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Taiwan has deployed one set of missiles, perfected another and sped production of a third, the analysts say, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39470,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39468\/revisions\/39470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}