Pingtung County, Taiwan: Under a vigilant wind, three mobile rocket launches made by the United States staggered in a military base in Taiwan, preparing for their first living fire test on the island claimed by Beijing.
“3, 2, 1 … launch”, a Taiwan military officer told on a speaker. Then a total of 33 rockets were fired towards the Pacific Ocean, in the opposite direction of the Chinese continent. Making a thunderous sound, each one exploded in bursts of flames and the white smoke that rose in the air was dragged.
The historical test of the high mobility rocket system of artillery, or Himars, took place this month in a place not revealed in Pingtung County, at the southern end of Taiwan, while Taipei struggles to review his military and obtain the threats of China from President Donald Trump.
The rocket system could be crucial if Taiwan was ever attacked by Beijing, which has not ruled out the use of force to attach autonomous democracy.
Manufactured by the American defense contractor Lockheed Martin, the Himars mobile launchers are equipped with guided rockets that have a variety of approximately 185 miles, far enough to achieve the coastal objectives in the province of southern Fujian to the other side of the Taiwan Strait.
It is the same rocket system that the Ukrainian forces have been using to aim for Russian positions, although unlike Ukraine, Taiwan paid the United States more than $ 1 billion for the armament.
The island has received 11 of the 29 Himars launches that it has bought, and the rest is expected to arrive earlier than expected next year.
Although the United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty statements, is the largest weapons supplier on the island. Millions of dollars in the arms agreements with the USA. UU. They have helped Taiwan build asymmetric tools such as drones, missiles and improved combat planes.
As China increases military and other pressure, Taiwan has also extended mandatory military service to one year from four months, doubled the annual mandatory annual update training for two weeks, and promised to increase its defense budget to more than 3% of GDP.
While the United States remains a “very important” strategic partner, Taipei “fully recognizes” the need to strengthen its own defense capabilities, said Sun Li-Fang, spokesman for the Taiwan National Defense Ministry.
“Ensure that Taiwan’s security is our responsibility and our top priority,” he said. “We take this matter very seriously.”
But it is difficult for Taiwan to build a modern struggle force, Sun said, in the face of the “inherently disproportionate” threats of China, whose army of 2.8 million people is more than 18 times larger than Taiwan’s active duty personnel number.
In the year since the president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-TE, assumed the position, China has carried out several rounds of large-scale military exercises that Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, head of the Indo-Pacific Command of the United States, warned that this month they are not simulation but “essays.”
The Chinese army also sends combat airplanes and ships to Taiwan in almost daily outputs and in recent days he celebrated an amphibious landing drill in the Taiwan Strait.
To deal with such “tangible and real” threats, it is “crucial” that the United States and Taiwan continue their military cooperation, said Sun.
In addition to Himars, the United States and Taiwan have advanced their cooperation with an agreement to share intelligence that Sun called a “game change.”
“In general, we do not go into details because intelligence and the exchange of information are sensitive,” said Sun in the first public comments of his government on the subject.
“That said, this type of intelligence exchange is extremely useful for us to understand the enemy’s threats and make appropriate defensive implementations.”
In the testimony of the Congress this month, a retired Admiral from the United States Marina also publicly recognized for the first time that there are around 500 US military personnel parked in Taiwan, more than 10 times the previously revealed number.
Although it works with the United States, Taiwan is not sure about the scope of the Washington security commitment, which for a long time has maintained a “strategic ambiguity” policy when it comes to whether the US forces would defend the island against a Chinese attack.
More confusing the image are the comments Trump has made about Taiwan, the world leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, “steal” the chip business of the United States and not pay enough for his own defense.
Officials in Taipei have also been shaken by the collapse of US support to Ukraine, as well as the threat of tariffs pronounced in Taiwan exports, which Trump has established in 32% in addition to a baseline of 10%.
“You have different voices that emerge from the United States, so that it creates more uncertainties for the Taiwanese,” said Andrew Yang, former Minister of National Defense of Taiwan. “What voices or narratives should we hear?”
The reservist Jason Chu, 30, said that among those around him, there was a “growing” sense of responsibility to defend Taiwan.
“The biggest difference lies in our mentality,” said Chu, an engineer. He said that, although many people in Taiwan probably think that their training is a duty at the beginning, they often begin to think that protects their country.
People in Taiwan have observed with concern how war crawls into Ukraine, another democracy led by a larger and autocratic neighbor, and some have even gone to the fight against Russia.
Tony Lu went to Ukraine in 2022 first as a volunteer, then as a fighter. He said he thinks people in Taiwan need to be ready.
“Nobody wants war, I don’t want it either,” he said. “But we have no choice.”
