Taiwan is developing missiles capable of covering a range of up to 1,000km to defend the country against a possible attack, the defense minister said yesterday.
Minister of National Defense Lee Jye's (李傑) comments came just two days after Taiwanese military officials revealed that a computer simulation of a war with China envisioned Taiwan using unidentified missiles to take out Chinese military bases across the 160km-wide Taiwan Strait.
Lee yesterday said the "Tactical Shore-based Missile for Fire Suppression" (TSMFS) is being developed with the US government's approval.
"The TSMFS is a defense missile system," he said. "It can be used against Chinese missile attacks. The US government is well-informed of the plan."
The minister made the remarks in response to lawmakers' questions yesterday morning.
Other than admitting that the maximum range for the "TSMFS" will be 1,000km, Lee said that other details of the missile system remain confidential.
"I have no idea what targets in China the missiles may hit," he said. "Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun once said during his term as premier that our missiles could easily destroy China's Three Gorges Dam, and his comment has seriously made our job a lot more difficult. Please stop speculating."
The minister told lawmakers that China has a superior military force. As such, Taiwan would never challenge China and the TSMFS would only be used for defense.
Taiwanese missile development is a sensitive issue for the US, which provides defensive weaponry but has been reluctant to sell arms that could be used to attack China.
Opposition lawmakers have expressed concern that the US could still pull the plug on the missile program by withholding sophisticated satellite guidance technology from the Taiwanese military.
As for last week's simulated war game, Lee said President Chen Shui-bian (
Regarding recent criticism that the military asked its officers to commit suicide should they be surrounded by enemies during the war game, Lee emphasized that the war game only simulated the worst-case scenario.
"Again, we still have to figure out what we should do when the worst happens. That was not the focus of the war game," Lee said.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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