Taiwan's ability to eavesdrop on China has been boosted by access to an Israeli spy satellite, it was reported yesterday.
Taiwan's military intelligence is now partly plugged into the EROS-1 (Earth Resource Observation Satellite) which transmits photos with a resolution of up two meters, a local Chinese-language paper said.
"Taiwan is authorized to fully control the satellite whenever it flies within a range of 1,000km of the nation's satellite ground signal station," the paper said.
"Taiwan is able to spy on any targets [in China] it desires," the report said. The Ministry of Defense, tight-lipped on sensitive topics, declined to comment.
A military source quoted by the paper hailed the tie-up with Israel.
"In the past, Taiwan was only able to spy on the mainland's coastal and southeastern area through reconnaissance aircraft, but now Taiwan gets clearer pictures of the mainland's military establishments," the source said.
The defense ministry said that China has deployed some 350 ballistic missiles targeted on the country.
Until now Taiwan has been purchasing photos taken from the US IKONOS commercial satellite. While the US satellite provides photos of 1m in resolution, they take a month to deliver, the paper said.
Taiwan was also required to report to the US government on the photos it ordered, the paper said.
"This does not meet the military's real-time and confidential demands," it said.
The paper said Taiwan has signed contracts with Israel on the use of three other identical satellites due to become operational within the next five years.
Taiwan in October 1991 launched a 15-year space program at an estimated cost of NT$19.6 billion (US$560 million).
Its first fully owned science satellite ROCSAT-1 went into orbit from the US in January 1999.
Its second satellite, named ROCSAT-2, would be sent into orbit in late 2003. Although the authorities insisted it would be designed for scientific research, some suspect it can be transferred to military uses.
Taiwan also aims to put into orbit six micro-satellites weighing about 40kg each.
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