China said it test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) yesterday, firing it into the Pacific Ocean in its first such exercise in decades.
The launch sparked protests from countries in the region, with Japan saying it had not been given advance notice and expressing “serious concern” about Beijing’s military buildup.
In Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it detected “intensive” Chinese missile firing and other drills, but did not give details.
Photo: Reuters
Beijing has stepped up its nuclear development and boosted defence spending over the past few years, with the Pentagon warning in October last year that China was developing its arsenal more quickly than the US had anticipated.
China held more than 500 operational nuclear warheads as of May last year and is likely to have more than 1,000 by 2030, it said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force “launched an ICBM ... carrying a dummy warhead to the high seas in the Pacific Ocean at 8:44 on Sept. 25, and the missile fell into expected sea areas,” the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
An analyst said such tests were rare.
“This is extremely unusual and likely the first time in decades that we’ve seen a test like this,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Stanton senior fellow Ankit Panda said.
The test “likely speaks to China’s ongoing nuclear modernization manifesting in new requirements for testing,” he added.
Japan said it was given “no notice from the Chinese side in advance,” with a government spokesman adding that Beijing’s military buildup was a “serious concern.”
Australia said it was seeking “an explanation” over the launch.
New Zealand also said the launch of the missile, which landed in the South Pacific, was “an unwelcome and concerning development.”
The MND said it had detected 23 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters and drones, operating around Taiwan carrying out long-range missions to the southeast and east of the nation.
Taiwan has dispatched its own air and naval forces to keep watch, it said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
RSS