Taiwan develops 1,200 km surface-to-surface missile – Wendell Minnick

Against international agreements Taiwan is developing 1,200 km surface-to-surface missiles, writes defense analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News. Southern and Central China, including Shanghai, are within reach, and the development will add to the regional tensions, even when Taiwan only wants to use them after an attack from China.

Wendell Minnick:

The [three missile] bases are roughly 160 kilometers from the first target of opportunity: the Chinese signal intelligence facility at Dongjing Shan (Daqiu). It is located 140 kilometers from Taiwan at 25°24’55.48”N by 119°37’53.81”E. The facility has been an irritant to Taiwan’s military since the early stages of the Cold War.

But former vice minister of defense for policy, Lin Chong Pin, said China has more than one way to take Taiwan.

“China these days does not rely on military instruments as such to achieve its ultimate goal of unification,” he said. All that China has to do, with the opening of direct Chinese investment into Taiwan, is “to buy Taiwan.” This is “cheaper than to attack Taiwan,” Lin said.

When asked if Taipei was concerned the U.S. would object to the new missiles because they violate the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) — which limits missile payloads to 500 kilograms and ranges of no more than 300 kilometers — the government source replied, “This is a 1,000 percent violation of the MTCR, and I don’t care what the [expletive] Americans think.”

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Wendell Minnick is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.