Taiwan to build warships and precision weapons to deter China

With increasing pressure from China in the East China Sea, Taiwan is planning to build new warships by 2025 and 2026.

The island nation is under strain from China which has doubled the number of ships that patrol the waters around Taiwan on a daily basis. The Chinese military pressure on Taiwan increased after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, reports Bloomberg.

Taiwan intends to build a new anti-submarine frigate and another similar one with anti-aircraft capabilities, the news agency reported, citing official sources from the Taiwanese Defence Ministry.

The island nation has been on its guard for the past couple of years at least, but an invasion threat from China has increased lately. With the Communist Party of China (CPC) holding its seventh plenary session later this week and President Xi Jinping’s repeated assertions about reunifying Taiwan with China, the threat has only mounted.

The once-in-five-years congress of the CPC is almost likely to endorse the unprecedented third term for Xi, who has listed among his many goals for attaining “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” with the reunification of Taiwan.

Pelosi’s visit, the highest-ranking US official to visit the island, triggered large-scale military exercises by an angry China which blockaded the waters, fired missiles over Taiwan and increased the intensity of its warplanes breaching Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ). It also conducted military exercises in the vicinity of the island and also the Korean peninsula with live-fire drills.

Chinese belligerence has made Taiwan resolute about the need to resist a possible Chinese invasion. It has also alerted the US to the heightened possibility of a conflict in the region.

Earlier this week Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that the country will boost its defences by mass producing precision missiles and warships. In her speech on Taiwan’s National Day on October 10, Tsai said that Taiwan will take the responsibility for its self-defence and will not leave anything to fate.

The country plans to develop small but mobile precision weapons like anti-ship missiles that can be fired from a truck and then moved away to a safe location. India Narrative has earlier reported that it is also building an indigenous submarine.

Tsai added that the Taiwanese people have arrived at a consensus “… to defend our sovereignty and our free and democratic way of life. There is no room for compromise on this. I call on the Beijing authorities that resorting to war must not be the option for cross-strait relations”.

Also read: Defiant Taiwan begins live-fire drills to deter Chinese assault

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