China is rapidly building space capabilities to be able to launch precision strikes on Taiwan, the US and its allies, US Space Force leaders said at a recent conference in London.
China is developing counterspace warfare capabilities including GPS jamming systems and anti-satellite missiles at “breathtaking speed,” said General Stephen Whiting, commander of the US Space Command.
In the past six years, Beijing tripled its number of dedicated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, while rapidly fielding dual-use satellites, Whiting said, adding that the capabilities are honed for detecting movements at sea.
Photo: Reuters
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might have already achieved substantial benefits from Beijing’s space warfare program in the form of enhanced targeting range, precision and lethality of its arms, and the development of the Signal Support Force, its latest independent military branch, Whiting said.
The force is believed to be focused on leveraging space technology to augment China’s space operations, cyber and information warfare, and logistics, he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Galen Thorp, commander of the US Space Force 1st Space Operations Squadron, said that China’s new space capabilities allow the PLA to attack Taiwan directly and significantly extend the range of its ballistic missiles.
These capabilities would make it more challenging for the US military to intervene in a Taiwan conflict, he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Travis Anderson, commander of the US Space Force 75th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron, said that China’s new satellites allow Beijing to find and attack US and allied warships across the Indo-Pacific region.
The PLA’s ability to target ground troops of opposing forces has also been elevated through the use of space technology, he said.
China displayed a clear intent to use space-based capabilities to enhance force projection, including the ability to deliver over-the-horizon fires on targets thousands of kilometers away, US Space Force 2nd Delta Squadron Commander Colonel Raj Agrawal said.
The PLA aims to make it too cost-prohibitive for US and allied forces to maneuver in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS