Taiwan fired rockets from a US-supplied HIMARS launcher toward the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, June 10, in a live-fire drill on the island’s west coast. IBTimes reported that it was the first time the army had launched rockets from the system into the Strait itself.
The rockets were practice rounds of reduced range, built to drop into the sea shortly after launch. Soldiers ran the exercise as “shoot-and-scoot”: the mobile launchers deployed fast, fired, and moved to new positions within minutes, the way a crew would try to dodge counterattack in a real fight. The same drills included 155mm howitzers.
Army Sgt. Wang Ming-hui said “we will continue HIMARS training with unwavering determination to protect Taiwan as the nation’s strongest force.”
Why west
Taiwan’s representative to the United States, Alexander Yui, was asked about the direction. His answer was plain. “We’re an island; we can only shoot east or west, so they chose west.” He said the launcher is part of ongoing training following recent deliveries from the US.
The Strait is about 110 miles wide at its narrowest point, which puts Chinese coastal and naval assets within reach of such weapons. Analysts quoted in the reports tie the drill to what they call a “porcupine strategy”: mobile, dispersed and hard-to-find weapons that could make an invader pay, instead of trying to match China’s forces head to head. Truck-mounted launchers are central to it because they can fire and relocate before anyone locates them.
The arms pipeline
HIMARS is one piece of a growing flow of American hardware. Earlier sales to Taipei have included Harpoon coastal defense missiles and Stinger man-portable air defense systems. China protests each major sale, and has at times answered by suspending military talks with Washington or sanctioning US defense contractors. Beijing holds that Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory under the “One China” principle. Taiwan’s government says the island is a self-governing democracy that has never been ruled by the People’s Republic.
The United States does not formally recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state but is its main arms supplier, and it has said it opposes any attempt to change the island’s status by force.
Past Taiwanese military displays have drawn more Chinese air and naval patrols in the Strait and surrounding waters.
Sources
- Taiwan Fires U.S.-Supplied Rocket System Toward China in Live-Fire Military Drill
- Us-Backed Taiwan Fires Rockets Toward China in Strait Drill as Tensions Surge Over Island Defence Escalation
