The Ministry of National Defense yesterday confirmed for the first time that China has Dong Feng-16 (DF-16) missiles aimed at Taiwan in a bid to increase military pressure on the nation.
In a report delivered to the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, the ministry said Beijing has stepped up military threats toward Taiwan, pushing for military reforms and advancing its joint forces operations.
“In recent years, China’s navy and air force have introduced new warships, domestically produced fighter jets — including the Chengdu J-10, Shenyang J-11 and Shenyang J-15 — and Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35 multipurpose fighter jets, and put its latest stealth fighter, the J-20, into service,” the ministry said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force has deployed DF-16 ballistic missiles, capable of conducting precise strikes on Taiwan proper, it added.
According to military sources, the DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile is guided and can carry multiple warheads, making it much more difficult to intercept.
Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said recent events indicate that Beijing is seeking to stir up domestic discontent in Taiwan by increasing its military activities to force Taipei to fall in line with its cross-strait policy.
Feng cited as examples China’s first and only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, passing through the first island chain in international waters off eastern Taiwan in December last year, as well as retired Chinese military officers’ repeated warnings about the risks of military conflict across the Taiwan Strait.
Responding to a question from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) about Taiwan’s ability to intercept and counter DF-16 missiles, Feng said the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile systems can meet the task.
“As the DF-16 is released at a high altitude and targets a single area, we are able to counter the missile as it passes through the atmosphere,” Feng said.
Lieutenant General Chiang Chen-chung (姜振中), director of the ministry’s Office for Operations and Planning, said the PAC-3 missile system can effectively take down the DF-16 when it is flying between 40km and 70km away, preventing it from hitting Taiwanese soil.
To improve the nation’s integrated air defense capabilities and in response to an increased Chinese military presence in the area, the ministry earlier this month said that it has deployed PAC-3 missile batteries to Hualien and Taitung counties.
Dismissing US President Donald Trump’s reported plans to announce new arms sales to Taiwan after a proposed meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next month, Feng said the government has yet to talk to Washington about weapons needs.
“Our policy is to consider any kinds of weapons that can truly increase the nation’s defensive capabilities,” Feng said, expressing hope that the US would authorize a large arms sale package soon.
Additional reporting by Lo Tien-bin
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS