A US newspaper is reporting that China earlier this month carried out a series of practice or “simulated” attacks targeting Taiwan.
“The tests included multiple firings of short and medium-range ballistic missiles as well as land-attack cruise missiles,” the Washington Times reported.
The report was written by national security journalist Bill Gertz, who has established a reputation for his intelligence community contacts. Gertz earlier broke news of China secretly testing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).
The latest missile tests may actually have taken place while US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Beijing on Sept. 4.
Citing US officials, Gertz said Chinese military forces recently carried out a series of ballistic and cruise missile tests that “simulated salvos of attacks on Taiwan.”
US intelligence sources reached by the Taipei Times would neither confirm nor deny the report.
“The missile tests were monitored by US spy agencies which reported that the tests used capabilities designed to penetrate missile defenses and to hit hardened or protected targets,” Gertz said.
According to Gertz, China has between 1,000 and 1,600 DF-16 medium-range and DF-11 and DF-15 short-range missiles within range of Taiwan and recently deployed a new DH-10 land-attack cruise missile.
“The anti-Taiwan missile tests followed a series of long range flight tests of Chinese missiles that began in July, with the first test of a new road-mobile DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile,” Gertz said.
A US Department of State official said: “We are well aware of China’s extensive military modernization efforts and are monitoring them closely,” adding that “we remain concerned about the lack of transparency from China.”
Richard Fisher, a specialist on China’s military with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said: “The timing of this latest missile exercise with the arrival of the US Secretary of State seems consistent with the Chinese Communist Party leadership’s penchant for martial posturing.”
“[US] Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta got his share when China revealed its J-31 stealth fighter the day before his arrival. The dictators are playing for PLA [People’s Liberation Army] applause and may even think they are scaring the rest of us, but they are also demonstrating their insecurity and reminding us that their paper thin legitimacy makes them prone to violence,” he said.
Fisher said that with the latest report it was clear that China’s Second Artillery had undertaken an intensive missile demonstration and testing program this summer.
“We are already seeing an effort by the PLA to counter Taiwan’s new missile defenses with the deployment of longer range and faster DF-16 missiles that are much harder to shoot down,” Fisher said.
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS