Taiwan puts on show of military force

Taiwan puts on show of military force

CHECHENG, Taiwan (AFP): Taiwan's armed forces staged on Friday a powerful display of military might to warn off rival China in huge war games here, which come as Washington mulls selling more high-tech weaponry to Taipei.

A total of 3,380 soldiers and officers were involved in the live-fire anti-landing war games on a beach of the southern Pingtung county.

However, the military tried to down play the significance of the drill which comes as the new administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is considering whether to sell Taiwan destroyers equipped with the Aegis radar system, against the wishes of Beijing.

"The exercise is a routine one," a defense ministry spokesman said.

The drill also took place amid a row between China and the US over the April 1 mid-air collision between a U.S. spy plane and a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea.

China is bitterly opposed to the proposed Aegis sale, fearing the system could help bring Taiwan under the umbrella of a future US missile defense system.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, but Beijing still regards the island as a renegade province awaiting reunification.

President Chen Shui-bian did not attend the exercise in a move local media said was aimed at dampening cross-Strait tensions.

Chen, from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, has refused to embrace Beijing's "one China" principle, although he has guaranteed not to declare independence.

The exercises played out a scenario of defense maneuvers against Chinese forces crossing the middle of the Taiwan Strait and moving towards the southern part of the island.

"We were immediately put on a alert in a scenario where the Chinese communist troops were about 28 kilometers off southern Taiwan," an army spokesman said.

Varied weapons were mobilized to wipe out the enemy. "The purpose of the anti-landing drill was to display our new generation of forces supported by high-tech weapons," the spokesman said.

Four F-5E fighters kicked off the anti-landing drill, launching rockets at the mock enemy.

One locally made Hsiungfeng I ship-ship missile, a sea- skimmer, was launched from one of the two missile boats.

Drawing the spotlight were US-made AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters and OH-58D scout helicopters, which launched Hellfire missiles and rockets. From the shore, smart bombs were fired guided by laser beams from scout helicopters.

The army also debuted the locally made RT2000 Artillery Multiple Launch Rocket System.

"Twenty-seven rockets can be fired in 52 seconds," said an officer with the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology which is in charge of the rocket development system.

He said the system outperformed the same kind of US-made MLRS. "One rocket is capable of carrying M77 warheads to targets up to 45 kilometers away, and could spread shrapnel across 200,000 square meters, an area the size of six soccer grounds," the officer said.

"I believe an invading enemy would hardly survive such a powerful weapon," he said.

Also used in the 45-minute exercise were howitzers, M60-A3 tanks, mortars and machine guns, wrapping up the biggest military drill of the year codenamed "Han Kuang (Han Glory) 17."

The number of Taiwan troops has been slashed from 450,000 to around 380,000, but the defense ministry said the military's firepower has been boosted by 75 percent.

The core of Taiwan's air force includes 150 US-made F-16 fighters, 60 French-made Mirage 2000-5s and 130 locally developed Indigenous Defensive Fighters (IDF).

Its navy is primarily composed of seven locally-built Perry class frigates, six French-built Lafayette class frigates, and six Knox class frigates which Taiwan leased from the United States.