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Taiwan beefs up missiles to counter China threat

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is responding to China’s arms buildup by developing missiles and interceptors of its own that could reduce Beijing’s military advantage over the self-ruled island, defense ex­perts say.

Since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Taiwan has deployed one set of missiles, perfected another and sped production of a third, the analysts say, in the latest sign of how it’s handling a Chinese military threat that is raising the chances of an armed confrontation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken a hard line against advocates of independence for Taiwan and has sent warships, bombers and fighter planes on training missions circling the democratic island in a show of strength.

While Beijing has an increasingly overwhelming military advantage, Tai­wan’s missile systems ad­vance its odds of holding off China in asymmetrical warfare, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Tai­wan. The term refers to effective resistance of an enemy with targeted firepower rath­er than overwhelming force.

“Taiwan with limited resources can only invest in the area that would create some kind of asymmetrical advantage, which would dissuade the Chinese from taking actions,” Huang said. “Presi­dent Tsai has committed more or at least ex­pressed willingness to in­vest more in the asymmetrical capability.”

The two sides have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, and China still claims sov­ereignty over Taiwan. Bei­jing has not ruled out using force to unify the sides, a threat it has highlighted amid Tsai’s continuing rejection of its demand that both interact as parts of a single Chinese nation.

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