China's newly-developed submarine-launched Ju Lang-2 missile serves as a warning to the US not to underestimate Beijing's military power, Taiwanese military experts said yesterday.
"The Ju Lang-2 poses a great threat to the US because it has better precision and guidance and is harder to detect," said Weng Ming-hsien (
"China wants to tell the US that it has never stopped developing nuclear arms. China also wants to warn Russia not to get too close to the US," he said.
Weng said China probably would deploy the Ju Lang-2, which carries nuclear warheads, on its Han-class nuclear submarines.
Lee Shih-ping, a military expert specializing in warplanes and warships, said Ju Lang-2 posed a new security threat to the US because it could be fired from the sea and reach the US interior.
"China now has a platform to carry and fire nuclear arms. It now ranks along with Britain, France, Russia and the US as the countries which have nuclear capability. Ju Lang-2 is a more lethal weapon and it is a weapon for invasion," he said.
Both Weng and Li said that the test-firing of Ju Lang-2 on July 16 last year was a warning for the US not to meddle in China's affairs, especially the Taiwan issue.
The Japanese government said Friday that China on Thursday had test-fired the Ju Lang-2 missile, a modified version of China's Dongfeng-31 intercontinental ballistic missile.
Ju Lang-2 was believed to have been fired from a nuclear sub in waters off Qingdao, landing in a desert in China several thousand kilometers away.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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