DisOrientated - A Weblog by Philip Sen - Taiwan's Northern Fortress?

July 28, 2004

Taiwan's Northern Fortress?

Having seen this entry at The Longbow Papers, I contacted the kind chaps at my former employer who sent me the original text of this article from Jane's Defence Weekly (JDW):

Revealed: Taiwan Missile Complex
WENDELL MINNICK JDW Correspondent, Taipei

The Republic of China (Taiwan) has a major missile and radar complex on Tungyin Island, part of the Matsu Island group and situated just 16km from the Chinese coast, JDW has learned.

The complex includes two large radomes containing separate radars for the navy and army. There are also 100km-range Hsiung Feng 2 (Brave Wind) anti-ship missiles and Tien Kung 2 (Sky Bow) medium- to high-altitude surface-to-air missiles. These place several vital Chinese air bases, missile launch sites and naval facilities under Taiwan's missile umbrella.

The Tungyin facility appears aimed at restricting Chinese naval and air mobility at the northern end of the Taiwan Strait. A second facility on Penghu Island, also with Tien Kung and Hsiung Feng missiles, guards southern approaches to the strait.

One US defence source said that the radars provide Taiwan with an early warning capability, casting some doubt on a costly long-range radar programme encouraged by Washington. "A forward radar so close to the one major [Chinese] base complex [Fuzhou Air Base] in Fujian province means almost an AWACS [Airborne Warning And Control System] or AEW [airborne early warning] effect - people in Taiwan get a lot better picture than any long-range radar could give from Taiwan itself. It means the chances of surprise are low. It gives the air force a heads-up (warning) long enough to matter," the source told JDW.

The army radar, which has a range of 300km, can expedite cueing for the Tien Kungs on Tungyin together with Tien Kung and Patriot missile defence systems on the Taiwan mainland.

Tungyin is defended by the 195th Infantry Brigade and elements of the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion. There are also numerous defensive tunnel systems throughout the island's granite core.

Aside from Tungyin and Penghu, Taiwan has Tien Kung bases at Sanchih in Taipei county, Tatushan in Taichung county, and Linyuan and Takangshan in Kaohsiung county.

Taipei has long held off from positioning missiles on Tungyin over concerns that this could violate a tacit agreement with Beijing over deploying missiles past the halfway point in the Taiwan Strait. This interpretation appears to have changed following the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, which saw China seek to influence Taiwanese elections through a series of missile launches.

(The island in question is just east of Fuzhou)

Now, this may have no significance at all. I daresay that Chinese intelligence has known about it for ages. But on the other hand, now it's public knowledge it may increase tensions a little Cuban Missile Crisis-style.

It all depends on how new the facility is and whether or not it is operational. So much sabre rattling recently, it's not really good news.

Posted by Sendover at July 28, 2004 02:15 AM | TrackBack

Comments

I would like to see the look on Bush's face if China sold this kind of technology to Castro.

US hypocrisy has always held that "we can put missiles in reach of you but you can’t do it to us".

If China held even one military exercise or built even one base in a Latin American country or the West Indies then America would go berserk, yet the US can march around the Pacific with near impunity.

Its telling of the free world isn’t it.

Posted by: Angry Chinese Blogger at August 4, 2004 11:28 AM

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