The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it had decided not to deploy a new powerful rocket system on the outlying island of Kinmen, saying they would be unnecessary in the context of what Taiwanese authorities are describing as rapidly warming ties with Beijing.
The Chung-shan Institute of Science and Technology is scheduled to start mass-producing the multiple launch rockets this year after having spent more than a decade developing the system, called the Ray-Ting 2000 or “Thunder 2000,” the Chinese-language China Times reported.
However, in light of the recent detente, the ministry has decided not to deploy the missiles on Kinmen, which at its nearest point lies a mere 6km from Xiamen, China, the report said.
“Since Taiwan is unlikely to fire the first shot under current circumstances, it does not make sense to place such offensive weapons on the offshore islands,” an unnamed military officer told the paper.
The ministry would not comment on the story yesterday.
The China Times said the ministry plans to produce more than 50 systems at a cost of NT$14.5 billion (US$475 million).
The weapon, which the ministry’s Web site describes as “an accurate Artillery Multiple Launch Rocket System designed to fire against amphibious assault and to enhance the firepower of conventional artillery,” will replace another indigenous rocket system. It is considered particularly useful in neutralizing enemy amphibious craft before they can undertake a landing.
It is capable of launching 40 rockets with a range of up to 45km within a minute, covering an area the size of 80 soccer pitches.
Despite the government’s claim of warming ties across the Taiwan Strait, China continues to modernize its military and has turned down calls by Taipei that it dismantle the approximately 1,900 short-range ballistic and cruise missiles it targets at Taiwan.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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