Medium-range missile being developed by Taiwan: Report
Medium-range missile being developed by Taiwan: Report
TAIPEI (Agencies): Taiwan is secretly researching and developing a medium-range ballistic missile in the face of a perceived threat from China, military sources said in a newspaper on Monday.
Military authorities hope to develop a surface-to-surface missile with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, the unidentified sources told The United Daily News.
But the defense ministry denied the claim. "The report was not correct. The military has not embarked on related RetD (research and development) programs," it said in a statement.
The paper said the development of such a missile would not be difficult for the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the island's cradle of indigenous weaponry including jet fighters, air defense missiles and radar systems.
It said the planned missile, inspired by the 1996 missile crisis, was intended to put China on the defensive and force it to divert a big chunk of military budget to defense programs.
Taiwan's defense ministry has said China's Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has some 300 ballistic missiles trained on the island.
Taiwan leaders have warned of an ever-growing battery of missiles on the Chinese coast where up to 500 missiles have been deployed within easy range of Taiwan's main political, economic and military facilities.
Taiwan plans to build a missile shield estimated to cost tens of billions of U.S. dollars, which the paper said dwarfs the amount of money pumped into the ballistic missiles the PLA has deployed along the southeastern part of the mainland.
China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has vowed to attack if the island declares independence or drags its feet indefinitely on unification talks.
The paper said the missile development program had been given priority after it was briefed to President Chen Shui-bian last year.
Taiwan's Vice Defense Minister Chen Pi-chao said last month the island would go ahead with its weapons development plans despite its massive purchase of arms from the U.S..
In April the new Bush administration approved the single biggest arms package to Taiwan in nearly a decade. It included eight diesel-powered submarines, 12 P-3C "sub-hunting" patrol aircraft and four Kidd class destroyers.
Beijing has strongly opposed the arms sale to the island which it regards as an inalienable part of China.
Over Beijing's objection, Washington agreed in 1993 to sell Taiwan the Patriot Advanced Capability, or PAC-2, anti-missile system. Taiwan has said it would test-fire its Patriot missiles this month but has given no details.
PAC-2 is deployed only in northern Taiwan to protect the Taipei area, the island's political and economic center.
Under Washington's pressure, Taiwan was forced to terminate its plan to develop surface-to-surface "Tien Ma" (Sky Horse) missile in the 1980s. The missile was designed with a range of 1,000 kilometers.