Taiwan set to commission its largest patrol ship to strengthen South China Sea claims

Name: Are Xi Jinping’s China and Donald Trump’s US destined for armed conflict?
Uploaded: 2020-06-01T13:15:43.000Z
Duration: 4 min 12 s
Description: Are Xi Jinping’s China and Donald Trump’s US destined for armed conflict?

4,000-tonne patrol vessel could be launched by President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday

The island will also next year begin production of advanced training jets, at a time of growing hostility from Beijing

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Taiwanese coastguard ship Kaohsiung is to be joined by four 4,000-tonne patrol vessels. Photo: Reuters

Lawrence Chung

Published: 9:15pm, 1 Jun 2020Updated: 9:15pm, 1 Jun 2020

Taiwan is expected to commission its first 4,000-tonne coastguard offshore patrol vessel early next year to strengthen the island’s presence in the disputed South China Sea, which has become a flashpoint amid growing confrontation in the region between mainland China and the United States.

The island will also next year start production of an advanced training plane after completing test flights later this month, as it tries to improve air force pilot training in the face of growing hostility from mainland China, officials and experts said on Monday.

The domestically developed air and sea craft could be quickly turned into defence systems during wartime to help safeguard the island, the experts said.

Separately, Taiwan will seek to buy land-based AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the US to boost its coastal defence, according to Deputy Defence Minister Chang Che-ping.

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Are Xi Jinping’s China and Donald Trump’s US destined for armed conflict?

The military would soon make a formal request to Washington and hope to acquire the missiles by 2023, Chang told the Taiwanese legislature last week, without specifying the number of the missiles the island wanted to buy.