TAIWAN has fired dozens of US-made rockets in China’s direction for the first time in an unprecedented show of force.
The “shoot and scoot” mobile launchers were used as part of a two-day drill, in which the military targeted the narrow Taiwan strait separating the self-governing island from China.
US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) have been fired before, but were used this time to show how Taiwan might repel a Chinese invasion.
“Due to the current enemy threat, we will continue HIMARS training with unwavering determination to protect Taiwan as the nation’s strongest force,” army Sgt. Wang Ming-hui said.
The exercise was held near Taiwan’s central Taichung city, along a 12-mile coastal stretch of “red beaches” considered prime targets for a Chinese attack.
The HIMARS is the trump card in Taiwan’s arsenal and will be crucial in fending off Xi Jinping and his imperialist appetite.
US-made Paladin howitzers and anti-tank missiles, as well as Taiwan’s domestically made Thunderbolt-2000 rocket system, were also used in the drill.
Taiwan’s ministry of national defence said in a statement: “The live-fire exercise was based on a scenario simulating an enemy amphibious force attempting to invade the central region.”
The military are aiming to “enhance the effectiveness of combat-oriented training, enabling officers and men to recognise that ‘everywhere is a battlefield, and training is constant.’”
Taiwan has previously tested its HIMARS system from its southeastern coast – where missiles were fired into the Pacific Ocean.
But the decision to fire it towards China from the west coast was “symbolically significant”, security analyst William Yang told The Telegraph.
The military said it used reduced-range rockets that didn’t travel far before landing in the ocean.
China continues to view Taiwan as a renegade state that belongs rightfully under its control.
Xi has been ramping up his imperialist rhetoric and hinting at an impending invasion even in the face of a potential US intervention.
China has used intimidation tactics – such as sending warships and planes to circle Taiwan, as well as holding military exercises in its vicinity in recent years.
The US does not officially recognise Taiwan as a country but opposes and change to its status and is its biggest weapons supplier.
The HIMARS is part of a US-encouraged strategy aimed at keeping China at bay rather than trying to go head-to-head.
It is a truck-mounted pod of rocket that can appear from a hidden position to fire missiles then quickly hide again in what are called “scoot and shoot” tactics.
Taiwan were fine-tuning these tactics during the two-day drilled, demonstrating that the vehicles could manoeuvre into position and fire the rockets within three minutes.
The US planned to sell 82 more HIMARS systems to Taiwan as part of a major arms deal, but that package appears to have been put on hold after Donald Trump met Xi at an historic Beijing summit last month.
Trump also warned Taiwan not to declare independence after the tip, and revealed that Xi asked him directly if America would intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16479132/taiwan-fires-us-missiles-china/