US intelligence agencies have leaked reports of secret new Chinese missile tests that could have important implications for Taiwan.
The reports have been published by national security journalist Bill Gertz on the Washington Free Beacon Web site.
Gertz said US intelligence agencies had monitored a fourth flight test last week of the Dong Feng-31A (DF-31A) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
It was fired from China’s Wuzhai Space and Missile Test Center in Shanxi Province to an impact range in western China.
“Thursday’s DF-31A test came ten days after the flight test at Wuzhai of a silo-based CSS-4 Mod 2 long-range missile, and several weeks after flight tests of a new road-mobile DF-41 ICBM, on July 24, and a submarine-launched JL-2 missile on August 16,” Gertz wrote.
“China’s secretive military made no mention of any of the tests,” he said.
According to Gertz, US intelligence officials believe the DF-41 will eventually be outfitted with between three and 10 warheads.
“China is currently in the middle of a major strategic nuclear forces buildup that includes four new ICBMs — the DF-41, JL-2 [Julang-2], DF-31A, and another road-mobile missile called the DF-31,” Gertz wrote.
Richard Fisher, a specialist on China’s military with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told the Taipei Times that the testing represents a new level of capability for China’s nuclear forces.
“It may mark the beginning of a new era in which China fields multiple ICBM types armed with multiple warheads,” Fisher said.
“Uncertainties concerning China’s nuclear missile developments are of direct importance to Taiwan,” he said.
“Any potential for China to undermine regional or Taiwanese confidence in the extended American nuclear deterrent has profound and potentially dire implications,” he said.
“For the PLA [People’s Liberation Army], nuclear checkmate of US forces would be a key part of any campaign against Taiwan,” he said.
Fisher said that were Japan to lose confidence in the extended US nuclear deterrent, it is quite well-positioned to develop both the nuclear warheads and long-range missiles to provide for its own deterrent.
Japan’s M-V solid fuel space launch vehicle was developed in part to provide the option to field a long-range ballistic missile if needed.
“Such a move by Japan could lead to similar reactions by South Korea, Vietnam, Australia and even Taiwan, which apparently ended its own nuclear weapon program in the 1980s following intervention by the [then US president Ronald] Reagan administration,” Fisher said.
“However, I am told that many of the engineers involved in this effort still reside in Taiwan,” he said.
According to Fisher, China shows “little inclination” to stop its nuclear and advanced conventional missile buildup that is undermining the US deterrent and shows “little to no interest” in the kind of transparency that might lower anxieties.
“China regularly signals that it wants American military power to depart from Asia and apparently is ready to plunge the region into a period of instability, even conflict, to emerge as its primary power,” Fisher said.
Word of the missile testing came as US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was visiting Beijing for high-level talks with Chinese leaders.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
RSS