Taiwan plans to more than double its annual missile production capacity to nearly 500, continuing to increase its fighting power amid what it sees as a growing military threat from mainland China.
This comes after Taiwan in November agreed to additional military spending of NT$240 billion over the next five years, as tensions with Beijing, which claims the self-governing island as its own territory, reached new highs.
Launching the South China Morning Post, Saturday (5/3), People's Liberation Army aircraft in recent months have repeatedly flown through Taiwan's air defense identification zone.
Taiwan's defense ministry, in a report sent to parliament for review by lawmakers, said the extra spending included plans to increase its annual missile production capacity to 497, from the current 207 per year.
These include Taiwan's self-produced Wan Chien air-to-ground missile, as well as an upgraded version of the Hsiung Feng IIE missile, the long-range Hsiung Sheng land attack missile which military experts say is capable of hitting targets farther inland in mainland China.
The ministry also plans to start producing an unspecified "attack drone" with an annual production target.
The military-owned Chung-Shan National Institute of Science and Technology aims to build 34 new missile production facilities by the end of June, a move that would help meet "peak production" from 2023, the report said.
About 64% of the additional military spending, which exceeds the planned NT$471.7 billion expenditure for 2022, will be used for anti-ship weapons such as land-based missile systems, including the NT$148.9 billion plan to mass-produce the missile housing. grow and “high-performance” ships.
President Tsai Ing-wen has made military modernization a top priority, pushing for various defense projects including deploying a new class of stealth warships and developing Taiwan's own submarines.
Tsai has championed the idea of “asymmetric warfare” by developing high-tech and highly mobile weapons that are difficult to destroy and can deliver precision strikes.
He told a visiting US delegation this week that military threats from across the Taiwan Strait were increasing, and vowed to defend the island's freedoms and democracy.
Taiwan believes Beijing has thousands of missiles aimed at it, and PLA forces dwarf Taiwan's military. Beijing also has nuclear weapons, which Taiwan does not have.
Beijing has never ruled out using force to bring the democratically administered island under its control.
