The Ministry of National Defense yesterday declined to comment on a local media report that said Taiwan has secretly developed a missile which can hit China's southeast coast.
"You know that we never make any comments or confirm anything on such an issue," said ministry Spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (吳季方) when approached by reporters for comment.
"If we achieve something or want to show the world what we have accomplished, we would arrange a press visit to the bases where the state-of-the-art weapons would be displayed," he said.
Local Chinese-language online news outlet ETToday.com quoted an anonymous source as saying that the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has secretly developed the Hsiung Feng III (Brave Wind III) missile, which can hit an object 600km away.
The report said that an international agreement bans the sale of all missiles or remote aircraft that can hit an object further than 300km away. The US government has shown its concern toward this latest development, it added.
The story went on to cite another anonymous source as saying that the purpose of the missile is to intercept China's missiles targeted at Taiwan and to destroy its missile bases.
The military is planning to display and test-drive this new missile in Pingtung County sometime in September, the report added.
"The press creates stories on things like this all the time and we have gotten used to it. We do not comment on stories that were made up by the press. This is unnecessary," Wu said.
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