BE PREPARED: While China is not likely to achieve victory using missiles alone, the improved range of its new weapons poses a huge threat, an analyst said

Taipei Times
Date: May 06, 2019
By: Huang Hsin-po and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Analysts and legislators urged the government to step up the nation’s asymmetric warfare capabilities, after the US Department of Defense issued a report on China’s military capabilities.

The report, released on Thursday, said that the west and northwest of Taiwan are in range of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air defense missiles, Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.

The Ministry of National Defense’s decision to replace Northrop F-5Es at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung with F-16Vs is vindicated by the report’s findings, he said.

Basing Taiwan’s most advanced tactical aircraft at Chihhang would put them beyond the reach of Chinese surface-to-air missile fire during takeoff, Su said.    [FULL  STORY]