Taiwan’s island’s southeast coast, known as JIUPENG, showed off its missile firepower on Tuesday ( Aug 20 ), when it visited a sensitive test site and fired a battery of surface-to-air missiles in front of reporters.
Taiwan, which China views as its own country, has complained about increased Chinese military action as Beijing tries to assert its claims for sovereignty, and Taipei has been working to improve its deterrence capabilities.
Weapons are a vital part of Taiwan’s defence plan, both US-made and domestically-developed.
At the Jiupeng center in Taiwan’s Pingtung County, the defense test fired both US-made Patriot and Taiwan-made Sky Bow III weapons into the clouds as dawn broke, while a ship off the beach fired a RIM-66 Common weapons.