President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes.
The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said.
The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江) in 2021, with the vessel’s excellent performance earning international praise after it passed operational tests and evaluations, she said.
The wide recognition motivated the government to speed up corvette production, which allowed for the early delivery of the corvettes yesterday, she said.
The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes have stealth capability, improved stability and are the first small navy ships to be equipped with air defense missiles, she added.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The vessels also have more powerful performance than the outgoing Chin Chiang-class corvettes which they are to replace, Tsai said.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the Tuo Chiang-class corvettes, which some media outlets have described as “carrier killers,” are “small, but mighty.”
With a displacement of only 685 tonnes, the highly mobile corvettes can travel at 40 knots, Su said.
Their stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, he said.
Crucially, they are equipped with layered weapons systems giving them formidable firepower, including TC- 2N air defense missiles, the Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles, and OTO Melara 76mm guns, he said.
The corvettes also have the Phalanx close-in weapons system, which can intercept missiles, as their final line of defense, he added.
The corvettes can be used in combination with land vehicle-mounted missile systems under the planned coastal combat command to guard offshore areas and prevent enemies from attempting landing operations, while submarines are deployed further from shore as a deterrence, thereby forming a multilayered barrier zone, Su said.
The navy plans to acquire five more Tuo Chiang-class corvettes, the contract for which was awarded to Lungteh in March last year.
Also yesterday, Taiwan tested its air defenses in early morning drills using surface-to-air missiles, and air, land and naval forces, saying it would continue to intensify training in the face of China’s frequent military activities nearby.
The Air Force Headquarters in a brief statement said that between 5am and 7am it carried out “overall air defense combat plan exercises” using domestic Sky Bow and US-made Patriot surface-to-air missiles in conjunction with aircraft and navy ships.
The drills were “to inspect and verify the joint air defense combat command and control of the three branches,” it said, adding that the outcome was “good.”
“In the face of Chinese aircraft and ships frequently encroaching into Taiwan’s surrounding sea and air space, the air force will continue to increase its training intensity to deal with potential threats,” the statement said.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said that although there was no direct link between what he called routine annual drills such as these and current tensions, the threat from China is continuing to rise.
“Working out how to bolster our overall military capabilities is very important,” he told reporters.
Additional reporting by Reuters
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS