Taiwan to deploy missile boats

TAIPEI—Taiwan is planning to deploy missile boats in the South China Sea and tanks on disputed islands as regional tensions mount over territorial differences, a military spokesperson said on Sunday.

In Hanoi, about 50 people with Vietnamese flags sang patriotic songs and held signs proclaiming Vietnamese sovereignty over two South China Sea archipelagos which are at the center of a long-running dispute with Beijing.

In Ho Chi Minh City, about 250 people held a similar rally but police sealed off the Chinese Consulate with barbed wire barricades to prevent protesters from approaching, a witness said.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said it feared its Coast Guard now stationed in the Spratlys, claimed by several nations, and the Pratas islands, claimed by China, may not be heavily equipped to handle potential conflicts.

“Currently the Coast Guard in the Nansha (Spratlys) and Tungsha (Pratas) are only armed with light weapons,” said David Lo, Taiwan’s defense ministry spokesperson.

“The missile boats and tanks is an option we’ve offered to the Coast Guard,” Lo said, without specifying numbers and adding that the Coast Guard had yet to make a final decision.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard currently has a garrison on Taiping, the biggest island in the Spratlys archipelago, which has a runway to smooth logistical support.

Local media said the presence of the missile boats would serve as a deterrent.

Each of Taiwan’s 47-ton Seagull class boats is armed with two Hsiungfeng I missiles, a ship-to-ship weapon with a range of 40 kilometers.

Lo’s remarks come as China becomes increasingly assertive in the potentially resource-rich South China Sea, following several years of relative quiet.

Taiwan on Saturday reiterated its claims to the Spratlys, along with three other island groups in the South China Sea, amid a flare-up in regional tensions over rival claims.

Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, China, Malaysia, and the Philippines claim all or part of the Spratlys, which could lie on top of large oil reserves.

In Hanoi, dozens of Vietnamese protested outside the Chinese Embassy for the second weekend in a row on Sunday as a maritime dispute raised tensions between the two communist neighbors. AFP