Offensive missile strikes are now part of Taiwan’s planned response to an attack from the mainland. Taiwan’s military currently has no long-range missiles that could attack distant targets on the mainland. Senior military officials and lawmakers in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have confirmed that the land-attack cruise missiles are under development.

In March, the Washington-based Defense News newspaper reported that this missile had been tested on Feb. 2 at the Jiupeng testing range in Pingtung County on Taiwan’s southeast coast. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry had confirmed the test without giving any further details. In the first phase of its annual Han Kuang exercise in April, Taiwan’s military conducted a computer simulation of an engagement with China in which missiles were fired at military targets on the mainland. A U.S. delegation led by the retired commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral Dennis Blair, observed the exercise. The U.S. and other powers are unwilling to supply these kinds of weapons to Taiwan, so the island has to develop its own. However, it is unlikely that Taiwan’s cruise missiles would have a dramatic impact on the military balance across the Taiwan Strait, given the speed and scale of China’s military modernization.

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