Taiwan’s planned acquisition of anti-ship and air-defense missiles is aimed at countering Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amphibious assault ships and advanced ballistic missiles, a researcher said.
According to projections by Taiwanese and US militaries, China’s amphibious capabilities would threaten Taiwan in five years, said Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), an associate research fellow at the Institute of National Security and Defense Research.
China is laying down more amphibious assault ships and tank-landing ships, including the 40,000-tonne Type 071 amphibious assault dock and the 25,000-tonne Type 075 landing helicopter dock, he said.
The procurement of the ships illustrates the PLA’s expanding capability to launch multipronged amphibious operations, posing a security threat to Taiwan, he said.
A report by South China Morning Post said the PLA has deployed missiles in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces across the Taiwan Strait.
Although the specifications of the missiles have not been confirmed by publicly available sources, they are believed to be tipped with hypersonic warheads, Su said.
Taiwan’s efforts to obtain PAC-3 missiles from the US and improve its indigenous Sky Bow-series missiles should be understood as a response to China’s potential use of hypersonic missiles, he said.
Indigenous submarines and a plan to buy 400 ground-launched Harpoon missiles from the US would give Taiwan crucial capabilities in defending against an amphibious attack, he said.
The government on June 17 announced a NT$39 billion (US$1.4 billion) plan to buy missiles from the US, but did not identify the type of missile it is planning to purchase in the budget document.
A source familiar with the matter has confirmed that the budget is for the purchase of 400 Harpoon missiles. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.
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