In light of the threat posed to the Greater Taipei region by Chinese missiles, the military has said additional Patriot missile bases are needed in the region, on top of the three already in place, in order to ensure the protection of Taiwan’s political, military, and economic centers.
The China Military Power Report, released by the Ministry of Defense in September, said that the number of ballistic and cruise missiles which China’s Second Artillery Corps has aimed at Taiwan increased from 1,400 last year to more than 1,600 this year.
Currently, there are three Patriot missile bases in the Greater Taipei region — Wanli (萬里), Nangang (南港) and Sindian (新店) — which the military says serve to blunt any potential missile strikes against Taipei by Chinese forces.
The anti-ballistic capability of the Patriot missiles, as well as the long-range radar station located in the area which boasts a detection range deep into Chinese territory, would provide the Taipei region with an effective “umbrella” against missile attacks, the military said.
Pointing to the increased capability, accuracy and mobility of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Second Artillery Corp — as well as its increased deployment of Dong Feng-16 missiles [the newest mobile missile in the Chinese arsenal, capable of striking targets from a distance of 1,000km] — a Taiwanese general, who declined to be named, said the military had concluded that the anti-missile “umbrella” would need an additional surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile base.
Saying the location of the base was classified for reasons of national security, the military declined to comment on its planned whereabouts.
With the latest plan, the military is shifting its surface-to-air missile coverage ratio from that outlined by the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at 3:2:2 — in respect of missile bases located in the north, central and southern regions of Taiwan — to a new 4:2:1 ratio.
The previous administration had promised to set up missile bases in central and southern Taiwan to offer better protection to the Greater Taichung and Kaohsiung regions, nominating six ideal locations for the establishment of the missile bases, the general said.
After President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) came to power in 2008, economic woes took priority, forcing the ministry to aim for a first-phase establishment of four new missile bases — one in the north, two in the Greater Taichung area, and one in the Kaohsiung-Pingtung area, the general said.
The Chen administration had been focused on a balanced distribution of missile bases — a focus slightly more political than strategic — the general said, adding that the military’s current focus was based on the “level of threat” faced by various regions.
That focus helped to determine the priority of the establishment of new missile bases and is a decision based on overall strategic thinking.
“It is not placing the north over the south, nor is it favoring the pan-blue over the pan-green region,” the general said.
Political demographics in Taiwan traditionally demarcate northern Taiwan as more supportive of the pan-blue camp and southern Taiwan as more sympathetic to the pan-green camp, which is why the general sought clarify the matter.
Reached for comment, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said it was standard ministry practice not to comment on military deployments and declined further comment.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods