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Taiwanese
military honor guards demonstrate pride and
organization while practicing for National Day ceremonies in
Taipei. |
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Increasingly
outgunned by China, Taiwan is quietly
moving forward with plans to develop
missiles that could strike the Chinese
mainland. |
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Senior
military officials and legislators in
Taiwan's governing Democratic Progressive
Party of President Chen Shui-bian confirmed that land attack cruise
missiles were in development.
The Chen administration leans toward independence from China. |
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Defense
analysts note that Taiwan publicly acknowledged for the first time
this year that offensive missile strikes were now part of its
planned response to an attack from mainland China. |
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Taiwan's
Ministry of Defense denied that the missiles that
are under development are offensive
weapons. It stated
that if a decision was made to deploy them, they would only be used
if the island were attacked.
The ministry said, "Our country would not make provocations
on its own.... Only if we suffered an
enemy attack would we actually strike back." |
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Taiwan has
been testing a land attack cruise missile
with a range of 1,000 kilometers (621
miles), that could carry a 400-kilogram
warhead to targets as far away as
Shanghai. |
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The Pentagon's
estimate is that China has deployed 900 missiles opposite
Taiwan. Taiwan's military has no
long-range missiles that could threaten
distant targets in mainland China. |
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Recently
Beijing reacted sharply to reports of Taiwan's
build-up. Li Weiyi, a spokesman for
China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council stated in a news briefing,
"We sternly warn the Taiwan authorities not to play with fire".
This is according to a report
by China's official Xinhua news agency.
Li Weiyi continued, "Whoever plays with fire will get burned." |
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Andrew Yang,
secretary general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies,
a Taipei-based security policy institute said, "Taiwan
will go ahead... It sends a signal that
Taiwan will not be sitting and waiting for Beijing to conduct a
strike against Taiwan". |
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US and Taiwan
military experts estimate that China adds
up to 100 new missiles a year to its forces arrayed against the
island nation of Taiwan. |