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Taiwan in range of Chinese surface-to-air missiles: report

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accused China yesterday of deploying more advanced missiles along its coast before the inauguration of cross-strait charter flights.

The Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that China recently deployed Russian-made S-300PMU surface-to-air missiles to replace older models of the same missile at its air defense bases along the southern coast.

The new S-300PMUs have a range of more than 200km, surpassing the 80km and 120km range of the older models, the report said.

It said the missiles had been deployed at bases in Fujian Province’s Xiamen (廈門), Shantou (汕頭) and Longtian (龍田) cities.

The newspaper said the missiles’ range put Taiwanese air space within their ambit, which would put tremendous pressure on the Taiwanese Air Force.

DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference at the legislature yesterday that the developments showed that while Beijing engages in negotiations with Taiwan, it is still preparing for military conflict.

He said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung’s (吳伯雄) remark that China was unlikely to launch a missile attack against Taiwan was naive.

China has not abandoned its ambition of annexing the country, he said.

DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said that while China continued to upgrade its weapons systems, KMT legislators blocked the country’s weapon purchase programs, leaving Taiwan unable to procure advanced weapons.

The newspaper said that in addition to deploying the S-300PMUs, China had recently built a new ballistic missile base on its southern coast.

It said that China had deployed more advanced Dong Feng-15A ballistic missiles to replace the Dong Feng-15s at bases in Jiangxi’s Leping City (樂平).

The Ministry of National Defense declined to comment on the report yesterday.

Approached by reporters at the ROC Military Academy in Fengshan, Kaohsiung County, yesterday morning, ministry spokeswoman Major General Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) also declined to comment.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG

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