By Robin Kwong in Taipei
Taiwan tested a slew of missiles on Tuesday as part of a major military exercise that coincides with Chinese president Hu Jintao’s visit to the US.
Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s president, and top military figures observed tests of 17 surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles from a military base in south-east Taiwan. The tests came on the day that Mr Hu lands in Washington for a keenly anticipated state visit.
The exercise represents the first high-profile missile tests by Taiwan since cross-Strait relations began dramatically improving more than two years ago, and the first missile test since 2002 that it has allowed select journalists to attend.
The test, reminiscent of China’s missile tests off the coast of Taiwan in the 1990s ahead of key elections on the island, serves as a reminder of how Taiwan remains a major potential flashpoint and also a source of tension in China-US relations.
China claims sovereignty over independently-ruled Taiwan, backed by the threat of military force should Taiwan formally declare independence. Under its Taiwan Relations Act, the US is obligated to sell defensive weapons to Taiwan.
Military-to-military relations between China and the US are only now resuming after Beijing in effect broke them off over the US sale of $6.2bn worth of arms to Taiwan in January 2010. So the timing of the missile tests. which Taipei describes as coincidental. will be seen by some as a deliberate attempt to force the cross-straits issue on to the agenda for the Washington summit.
After the exercises, Mr Ma said he was “not very happy” with the accuracy of the missiles, several of which failed to hit their targets. He added that there was “room to improve”, and that the tests “had nothing to do with” Mr Hu’s US visit.
Cross-Strait political tensions have eased considerably since Mr Ma took office in 2008. However, a number of reports, including one by the Pentagon, point out that the military balance is increasingly swinging in China’s favour as Beijing increases and improves its arsenal of short-range missiles facing Taiwan.
Nonetheless, the issue of arms sales to Taiwan is expected to be far down the agenda when Mr Hu meets Barack Obama, US president, in Washington on Wednesday. The Taiwanese missile tests also come a week after China’s first stealth fighter completed its maiden flight test. That revelation surprised both the US and Taiwanese military which thought the fighter jet programme was less advanced.
Liu Yih-jiun, a professor at Fo Guang University in Taiwan, said the tests were “very much linked” to the maiden flight of China’s stealth fighter, which was “a slap in the face” for military intelligence who had not expected it. “They need to, if not fight back, then at least put on a show of strength . . . to justify their military budget,” professor Liu said.
He added, however, that it was unlikely that the tests were planned to coincide with Mr Hu’s US visit, as Taiwan in the past “kept a low profile and waited to see what happened” during China-US summits.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said the exercises were part of a regular programme designed to test the army’s capabilities as it moves from a conscription model to a smaller, professional army.
One person close to Taiwan’s military said the test, which had been planned months in advance, fell on Tuesday only because it had been previously delayed due to bad weather, saying the issue of the timing of the test was “overstated”.
