Bloomberg, Taiwan may have the technology to mass produce mid-range missiles capable of striking Shanghai in two years, a lawmaker said, adding teeth to Premier Yu Shyi-kun's warning that the island will retaliate if China attacks.
“We still need breakthroughs in some key technological areas,'' Lee Wen-chung, chairman of parliament's defense committee, said in a telephone interview. “We could start mass- producing mid-range missiles as early as in two years.''
Taiwan began a seven-year development program for mid-range missiles in 1980, which it was forced to stop by the U.S. in 1981, Lee said. The missiles have a striking range of 1,000 kilometers (625 miles), he said.
“We still have a secret budget for development of the missiles,'' said Lee, who declined to give more details. “Premier Yu wasn't saying vague things with no basis.''
Relations between China and Taiwan, never cordial, worsened after President Chen Shui-bian was re-elected in March. Chen supports independence for Taiwan, a move that China says would trigger a military response. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province.
Yu fanned tensions on Saturday when he said Taiwan would retaliate against any attack on the island. “If you hit Taipei, we'll strike Shanghai,'' he said told a political meeting.
China accused him of war provocation. “This exposes the desire of Taiwan authorities to seek independence using military arms,'' Li Weiyi, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's cabinet, told reporters at a briefing in Beijing.
The United States rebuked Taiwan on Monday, saying it would prefer to see the focus on dialogue rather than use of force, Agence France-Presse reported, citing State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. The U.S. warned both the island and China against accelerating tensions.
Chen said last week that China has increased the number of Chinese missiles aimed at the island to more than 600. He's seeking NT$611 billion ($18 billion) in supplemental defense spending to buy submarines, anti-missile equipment and anti- submarine aircraft from the U.S. in the next 15 years. The legislation is pending in parliament.
Taiwan's annual defense spending accounts for 2.8 percent of gross domestic product, less than the 3 percent in South Korea, 4 percent in the U.S., 4.3 percent in Singapore, and 8 percent in Israel.
Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since 1949, after Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists.
