Taiwan claims: "By 2008, Beijing will be able to strike us in 7 minutes"
The people's Red Army continues to deploy short-range missiles in coastal areas facing the island; these guided weapons could strike their target within a three-metre margin of error. Taiwan's Defence Minister has called on nationalists to back the acquisition of arms from the US.
Taipei (AsiaNews/SCMP) Mainland China will be able to attack Taiwan in about two years and if it does, it could pound the island with missiles in just seven minutes, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said yesterday.
In its 2005 defence white paper, the ministry wrote that China would rely on a strategy of intimidation before any attack, which would likely be launched before or during 2008. The report said intimidation was already under way.
The island's military says Beijing has deployed Dongfeng short-range tactical missiles in coastal areas facing Taiwan. Technicians say that "with this type of weapon, it will take just seven minutes to attack our territory." The people's Red Army also has guided cruise missiles at its disposal with a three-metre margin of error that pose "a serious threat".
At the end of last year, there were 784 Dongfeng missiles but the number is increasing at a rate of nearly 100 a year. The report presented yesterday also said: "The Chinese Communist military has been focusing on upgrading the precision of its guided and cruise missiles to increase the accuracy of those missiles in attacking Taiwan."
Beijing has also improved its technological military systems, including reconnaissance planes, Kilo-class submarines and Sovremennyy-class destroyers, which - coupled with improved Dongfeng missiles - have "slowly shifted the military balance in the Taiwan Strait in China's favour".
The report said the Chinese had 95 airports, including 30 military ones, located within 600 nautical miles of Taiwan. Since 1996 the number of Communist warplanes "crossing" into Taiwanese airspace has increased from less than 1,000 intrusions to a record 1,700 a year.
Once a plane crosses the imaginary line in the air dividing China and Taiwan, it would take just minutes for it to reach the capital, Taipei.
Taiwanese Defence Minister Lee Jye has once again, "for this reason", sought the backing of Kuomintang the country's main opposition party and heir to the nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek to finance an arms package from the United States worth 16 billion dollars. The package would include eight conventional submarines, Patriot missile batteries and submarine-hunting P-3 Orion planes.
The nationalists have blocked acquisition of these arms for the past three years, worried about possible reprisals from Beijing.
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20/11/2020 16:56
