The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday that China now has more than 800 missiles targeting Taiwan, and is increasing that arsenal at a faster pace of 75 to 100 per year.
The news came as Beijing defended its recent announcement of another double-digit increase -- 14.7 percent -- in this year's military budget.
"China was producing around 50 Dong Feng [DF] series ballistic missiles annually, but ... our intelligence has found it is now increasing by 75 to 100 ballistic missiles annually," said Lieutentant Colonel Chen Chang-hwa (
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen said if cruise missiles are included, China now has more than 800 missiles aimed at Taiwan, enabling Beijing to potentially launch a five-wave missile attack continuing for 10 hours.
The PLA's ballistic missiles are now also more precise, according to Chen. They used to have a 600m margin of error, but that has been reduced to 50m, giving China the capability to more accurately hit Taiwan's power stations, radar bases, airstrips and military, economic and political nerve centers.
China's main ballistic missiles are DF-11 missiles that have a range of 600km, and DF-15 missiles that have a range of 800km, Chen added.
Chen said the PLA deploys its ballistic missiles in five bases in southeast China, at Leping and Kanzhou cities in Jiangxi Province, Meizhou City in Guangdong Province and Yongan and Xianyou cities in Fujian Province.
"The missiles can be transported by rail at any time to [China's] coastal areas," Chen added.
The MND also revealed details about the 1996 cross-strait missile crisis on the eve of the event's 10th anniversary.
On March 8, 1996, ahead of Taiwan's first presidential election, China fired ballistic missiles into the sea near Taiwan.
MND spokesman Rear Admiral Liu Chih-chien (
From July 21 to July 24, 1995, the PLA launched six DF-15 missiles from Jiangxi Province's Qianshan City, which traveled 481km before dropping into the sea 130km north of Taiwan, Liu said.
From March 8 to March 13, 1996, the PLA launched one DF-15 missile from Fujian Province's Nanping City, which traveled 500km and landed just 37km from Taiwan.
It also launched three DF-15 missiles from Yongan City that flew 460km before landing 55.5km from Kaohsiung City, Liu said.
"The two missile exercises proved that China's DF-series ballistic missiles, which have better accuracy, are able to effectively attack Taiwan's critical facilities and blockade the island," Liu said.
Liu said that while the 1995 missile drill was intended to bully Taiwan after former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) visit to the US, the 1996 drill was an attempt to influence that year's presidential election.
The ministry had said that the missile exercises had a profound influence on the country's defense preparations.
The military started to develop anti-missile warfare capabilities after the drills, and began developing the nation's own strategic missiles to deter China.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
RSS