China has deployed special air-defense guided missile forces in Shenzhen, neighboring Hong Kong, and its surrounding islands in what a local newspaper reported yesterday was an attempt to "guard against retaliation from Taiwan."
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has set up four PLA camps, including air-defense guided missile troops in nearby Daya Bay, where a joint venture nuclear power plant is located, in Shenzhen and the surrounding outlying islands, The Sun, a Chinese-language daily, said.
While these air-defense forces were not counted as part of the Hong Kong PLA garrison, they are considered to be responsible for defending Hong Kong and Shenzhen against a possible attack from Taiwan, the daily said.
"The central government has considered that to strengthen Hong Kong's defense ability, with the least social impact, it is best to set up the air-defense forces in Shenzhen," an unnamed source told the daily.
Leaders in Beijing have long threatened that they could use force against Taiwan if it made any move toward what it calls "independence" from China.
While Taiwan is not a member of the UN, it argues that it is already an independent and sovereign nation and not a part of China.
The decision to set up an air defense zone was reportedly in preparation for a possible outbreak of war across the Taiwan Strait as the island may retaliate by directing its missiles at Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
A former Taiwanese official under then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had warned in Bangkok in July last year that Taiwan could direct its missiles at Hong Kong if war broke out across the Taiwan Strait.
The report said at least nine advanced air-defense warning systems have already been strategically set up in Shenzhen's downtown area.
Shenzhen is China's most prosperous special economic zone set up to attract foreign investment and technology.
This past August, the Chinese-language Ming Pao newspaper reported that China's powerful Central Military Commission, which is headed by President Jiang Zemin (江澤民), had decided to establish an air defense zone to cover Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
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