Taiwan plans to more than double its annual missile production capacity to about 500 this year, the island’s Defense Ministry said in a report, as it ramps up its combat power amid what it sees as China’s growing military threat. . The country last year approved extra military spending equivalent to US$8.6 billion – approximately R$43.8 billion. and, values this Thursday (3) – over the next five years, as tensions with China, which claims the island as its own territory, hit a new record. Chinese military aircraft repeatedly flew through Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
In a report printed on Wednesday and sent to parliament for review by lawmakers, a copy of which was analyzed by Reuters, the Defense Ministry said the extra spending included plans to increase annual missile production capacity to 497 of the current 207 per year. Among them are Taiwan’s own-made Wan Chien air-to-ground missiles, as well as the upgraded version of the Hsiung Feng IIE missile, the long-range Hsiung Sheng land-attack missile that military experts say is capable of hitting targets further in the interior of the country.
China
The ministry also planned to start manufacturing unspecified “attack drones” with an annual production target of 48 such aircraft. The military-owned Chung-Shan National Institute of Science and Technology aims to build 34 new missile-making facilities by the end of June, a move that would help reach “peak production” from 2023, according to the report.
About 64% of the extra military spending, which adds to the planned military spending of 471.7 billion Thai dollars – R$ 733.4 billion – for 2022, will be spent on anti-ship weapons such as land-based missile systems, including a plan to mass-produce “high-performance” missiles and ships.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made modernizing the military a priority, pushing forward a number of defense projects, including bringing into service a new class of stealth warships and developing its own submarines. Tsai championed the idea of “asymmetric warfare” by developing high-tech, highly mobile weapons that are difficult for an enemy to destroy and can deliver precision strikes.
She told a visiting US delegation this week that China’s military threat was growing and vowed to defend the island’s freedom and democracy. Taiwan said it believes China has thousands of missiles aimed at it, and Chinese forces outnumber Taiwan’s. China also has nuclear weapons, which Taiwan does not. China has never ruled out using force to bring the democratic island under its control.
Source: CNN Brasil
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