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Taiwan developing `blackout bombs': report

Taiwan is to develop a non-lethal graphite bomb designed to disable China's power supplies, reports said yesterday.

Should war break out, the so-called "blackout bombs" would be carried by Hsiung Feng II-E cruise missiles to paralyze power grids in China's southeastern coastal cities, the Chinese-language United Daily News said.

The bombs work by sprinkling a cloud of chemically treated carbon fibers over power supplies, causing them to short-circuit, but without killing people, the report said.

If approved, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology -- the nation's top weapons research unit -- would begin research and development of the weaponry, at a cost of up to NT$500 million (US$15.34 million), beginning next year, the report said.

The Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the claims.

Reports said the US used the graphite bomb against Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991, wiping out 85 percent of its electrical supply. A similar version was used by NATO against Serbia in 1999.

Rocky relations between Taiwan and China look set to continue after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) dismissed an offer of a peace treaty with China, saying it would be like agreeing to "a treaty of surrender."

Speaking to the International Herald Tribune last week, Chen said that China's call for the signing of a peace agreement with Taipei under the "one China" principle was made in terms that made it unacceptable.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) made what he called the "solemn appeal" in a keynote speech at the opening of the Chinese Communist Party's National Congress in Beijing last Monday, but insisted independence for Taiwan would never be tolerated.

Taiwan flexed its military muscle earlier this month, showing off two domestically developed missiles during the Double Ten National Day military parade seen as a reminder to China that it has the means to defend itself.
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