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Foreign Weapons Will Not Be Able to Hinder Reunification: Experts
Military experts said Tuesday Taiwan's recent test-firing of U.S. Patriot missiles and its plans to procure foreign weapons could only inflate the arrogance of Taiwan separatists, heighten the tensions across the strait, but will fail to stop China's reunification.
In the first comment from military experts on the Chinese mainland since the June 20 tests, experts also said they will not make the Chinese people waver in their determination to safeguard the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Chen Hu, a weapons expert with the "World Military Affairs," the most popular military magazine on the mainland, said the " Patriot-II" missiles are an improved version of the Patriot missiles the United States used in the Gulf War, which have all- weather, all-airspace and multi-purpose combat capability.
They are also the only type out of Taiwan's missiles that have anti-missile capability, and the only anti-missile missile in the world with war experience, said Chen.
The experts said the successful interception of dummy ballistic missiles by Patriot missiles does not mean they have developed mature capability against ballistic missiles.
"Anti-ballistic missiles remain a worldwide problem in terms of current air defense technology," he said.
He said advanced ballistic missiles could travel at a speed 10 times the velocity of sound, thus the time for the anti-missile system to issue warning and intercept would be extremely short, bringing great difficulty in intercepting.
There is no mature air defense system in the world that offers effective interception capability, he added.
Li Li, an expert of the Chinese People's Liberation Army University of National Defense, said the dummy missiles used by Taiwan's military are far from the performance of real ballistic missiles.
Therefore, the test-firing has in no way proved that Taiwan has acquired anti-missile capability.
"The legend of Patriot missiles' victory over Scud missiles in the Gulf War is only the propaganda made by the United States through mass media," said Li.
"As a matter of fact, 'the Patriot missiles basically failed to produce effective interception of the Scud missiles."
Hu Siyuan, associate professor with the university, said the test-firing was designed by the Taiwan authorities to increase its military capability against reunification with the mainland.
Other experts said the tests also displayed the two following connotative purposes of the Taiwan authorities.
The authorities attempted to bind itself on the chariot of the U.S. Theater Missile Defense System (TMD) and further increase its strength by relying on foreign forces, they said.
It also aimed to send a wrong signal to the general public in Taiwan that its troops are capable of defending mainland missile attacks, said the experts.
The United States side is certainly happy to test the performance of the missiles stored for a long period of time overseas, which were purchased with Taiwan taxpayers' money, according to the experts.
Taiwan has become the world's largest weaponry buyer in recent years by purchasing advanced weapons from the United States and other countries, they said.
It is with these foreign-made weapons and foreign backing, the Taiwan separatists are more than ever feeling safer and publicly challenging the peace across the Taiwan Straits, said the experts.
They went on to say that reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all Chinese people, including the people of Taiwan, and the historic trend is unstoppable by any force whatsoever.
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