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Taiwan Eyes Medium Range ABM Capability
Taipei (AFP) June 7, 2000 - Taiwan has the capability to produce medium range ground-to-ground missiles, a newspaper said Wednesday, amid reports that rival China is set to test fire a Dongfeng-31 ballistic missile. Progress in the development of Taiwan's anti-missile weaponry, known as ATBM (anti-tactical ballistic missile), has brought the island to the doorstep of the club armed with ground-to-ground missiles, the Liberty Times said quoting a military source. "Due to the development of ATBM, Taiwan has acquired the expertise regarding the control of projection and launch vehicles, which may be used in the manufacturing of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles," the source said. "To produce or not to produce is merely a matter of policy. Technically the barriers have been wiped out." A research team at the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology told a press conference last year that several breakthroughs had been made in developing ATBM. The paper quoted Tang Yao-ming, chief of the General Staff, as predicting the indigenous weaponry system would be mass produced and put into active service in 2005. "The system would be as good as the PAC-III," Tang said. Taiwan has deployed three batteries of PAC-II Plus -- the improved version of Patriot missiles used in the Gulf war -- to defend the most populous greater Taipei area, and is talking about purchasing PAC-IIIs. Former Vice President Lien Chan last December called for the setting up of a deterrent including development of long-range ground-to-ground missiles to counter China's perceived threat. Taiwan secretely launched the Tien Ma (Sky Horse) missile program in the 1980s planning to develop ground-to-ground missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), but unconfirmed reports said the program was called off under pressure from Washington. Defense Minister Wu Shih-wen said Wednesday that the island is already armed with "limited" anti-missile capability against China's M class ballistic missiles. But he acknowledged Taiwan was still short of the capability to counter China's Dongfeng-31 ballistic missiles, which he said could be test fired soon. Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday that the US military had deployed a reconnaissance plane and ship in the Yellow Sea since mid-May for an imminent test-firing of a Dongfeng-31. According to US intelligence information, China would test-fire the missile from a military base in Shanxi province to a desert area in Xinjiang Uygur in northwest China, the newspaper said. The Dongfeng-31 with a 8,000-kilometer (4,960-mile) range was tested in August last year at the same missile base, defense agency sources were quoted as saying. Copyright 2000 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. CommunityEmail This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Space
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