Taiwanese media, including the Ziyu Times, reported on the 13th that Taiwan has begun mass production of the ‘Chingtian’ supersonic cruise missile with a range of 2,000 km that can directly attack the Chinese capital, Beijing, in case of emergency. Taiwan’s capital Taipei and Beijing are approximately 1,700 km away. As China’s military threat to Taiwan grows stronger day by day, Taiwan is also taking steps to prepare countermeasures.
According to Ziyushibo, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), a state-run defense industry research institute, completed the development and operational evaluation of Qingtian last year and recently began full-scale mass production. This missile is currently deployed in the Taiwan Air Force missile brigade, and starting next year, the missile’s mass production capacity will also more than double from the current level, he added. The deployment of Qingtian has made it possible for Taiwan to directly attack not only Beijing but also northeastern China, including nearby Tianjin and Hebei Province.
Taiwan has steadily focused on expanding its missile range since the conflict with China escalated. In February of this year, the ‘Xiongsheng’ missile, which has a range of 1,200 km, was developed and this time it was deployed to Qingtian. At the time of the development of Xiong Province, there was an analysis that Taiwan developed it to keep within range the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei Province, China, the world’s largest dam. The distance between Taiwan and Three Gorges Dam is about 1,200 km.
The possibility of the Three Gorges Dam collapse was also raised during the major floods in southern China in the summer of 2020. It was also predicted that if it collapsed, the nearby densely populated metropolitan cities of Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai could all be submerged. Therefore, the fact that Taiwan possesses missiles that can attack the Three Gorges Dam in case of emergency is evaluated as evidence that it has a significant deterrent ability in preparation for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Air Force is also building a bomb-proof hangar that can withstand a 3,300-pound (1,496 kg) bomb at its central Taichung base. This can be interpreted as the need for a hangar that can withstand China’s ‘Dongfeng (DF)’ series ballistic missiles.
Separately, the Air Force is also planning to build 24 additional explosion-proof hangars by June 2027. 2027 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army of China, and predictions continue that Chinese President Xi Jinping may invade Taiwan before 2027.
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.