By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is expected to announce a new advanced “all-domain” air defence system to better defend against China when he gives his keynote national day speech on Friday, four sources familiar with the matter said.
Democratically-governed Taiwan has faced increased military and political pressure from China, which views the island as its own territory over the strong objections of the government in Taipei.
Taiwan is ramping up defence spending and modernising its armed forces, but faces a China that has a far larger military and is adding its own advanced new weapons like stealth fighter jets, aircraft carriers and a huge array of missiles.
NEW AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM DUBBED ‘TAIWAN DOME’
Lai is expected to announce the air defence system dubbed “Taiwan Dome” in his Friday morning speech, one of the sources said. The system will integrate domestically produced and foreign equipment, utilising smart technology for “comprehensive system integration”, according to the source.
It will help address increasingly complex threats, such as dealing with a combination of drones, rockets, missiles and military aircraft, the source said.
Just like in Israel, whose Iron Dome network of missile defences has been employed against attacks from Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran, Taiwan society can operate more “resiliently and normally” with the new system, the first source added.
Plans for the new system are currently being drafted and “initial integration” will start soon, the source went on to say, without elaboration.
All four sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. Taiwan’s presidential office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BOOSTING DEFENCE SPENDING AND SOCIAL RESILIENCE
A separate source, not connected with the information about the new defence system, told Reuters that Lai’s speech will talk about increasing defence spending and strengthening social resilience, to protect peace through strength and demonstrate determination to safeguard Taiwan with concrete actions.
That involves building a strong line of defence for freedom and democracy, Lai will say, according to the official.
Lai will also say he will “responsibly maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”, the official added.
China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, says Lai is a “separatist” and has rebuffed repeated offers of talks from him. Lai says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
China this week accused Lai of “prostituting” himself to foreigners, after he gave an interview lauding U.S. President Donald Trump.
China staged a day of war games around the island last year shortly after Lai’s national day speech in what it said was a warning to “separatist acts”, and Taiwan is tracking Chinese activities for any early warning signs of a repeat of last year’s drills.
China’s foreign ministry told Reuters on Thursday, when asked if there would be war games in response to Lai’s speech, that China would “firmly defend national sovereignty, reunification and territorial integrity”. It did not elaborate.
Taiwan’s national day is held on the anniversary of a 1911 uprising that led to the overthrow of China’s last imperial dynasty and establishment of the Republic of China.
The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists, and Republic of China remains the island’s formal name.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; additional reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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