KAOHSIUNG (TAIWAN) – In a bid to boost its defences amid the growing threat from China, Taiwan commissioned the first of a new fleet of coastguard vessels on Friday. The advanced catamaran can be armed with missiles during a conflict.
Military modernisation has been given key priority by President Tsai Ing-wen as Beijing has not given up its policy of using might to bring the self-governed island under its control.
While attending the commissioning of the vessel Anping, which was made domestically at a cost of T$1.05 billion ($37.30 million) in the southern city of Kaohsiung, the president hailed the “specific” ability of the vessel to be used in times of conflict.
“If necessary, it can immediately be transformed into an important force for defence,” Tsai said at the shipyard, where she also christened the second ship the Chengkung.
“This also means that while the coastguard strengthens law enforcement, national defence forces will be strengthened too.”
The vessel is similar to the Tuo Chiang-class of corvettes and has provisions for launchers for Hsiung Feng anti-ship and sea-to-land missiles. It also has added equipment for rescue operations.
The Tuo Chiang vessels are state-of-the-art and highly manoeuvrable stealth vessels which can take on larger warships that operate close to the Taiwan shores.
The first vessel of its kind has already been deployed for service and the island’s navy refers to it as the “aircraft carrier killer” because of its missile complement. China has two carriers and is constructing another one.
As the island’s troops are dwarfed by China’s, the president has touted the concept of “asymmetric warfare” by adding weapons that are mobile and harder to attack in a bid to make a Chinese offensive expensive and difficult.
The US remains the island’s top weapons supplier and Tsai has given a boost to its indigenous defence industry and it is planning to build eight submarines.
Taiwan’s coastguard often enters into confrontation with Chinese fishing and sand-dredging vessels, which Taiwan says operate illicitly in its waters.