Taiwan and China Build Missiles to Strike Each Other's Heartland

Taiwan's Air Force has reportedly obtained a newly developed missile that can reach Beijing.

Taiwan is said to have developed a new missile called Ching Tien with a range of 2,000 kilometers (over 1,200 miles), which can target areas north of Beijing, according to sources that spoke to the Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times. The new Ching Tien missile is now under mass production after completing combat testing by the Taiwanese military.

Now, the Taiwanese military has four domestically-produced missiles with over 1,000-kilometer ranges. The Hsiung Feng-IIE cruise missile, with its Type B variant having the ability to reach between 1,200 and 1,500 kilometers, is going through improvements, according to the outlet.

"The Type B has been reported to have a range anywhere between 1,200 kilometers and 1,500 kilometers, meaning it can strike inland targets in China. It could be fired from mobile launchers during a counterattack," a source told the Taipei Times about the capability of Hsiung Feng-IIE.

Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) has overseen the development of missiles and other cutting-edge technology, including lasers and autonomous drones, to counter the growing threat from China.

Hsiung Feng III is another missile in Taiwan's arsenal with a variant that can travel more than 1,000 kilometers and target both land and naval assets. The Yun Feng supersonic cruise missile has a range between 1,200 to 2,000 kilometers.

Beijing has also developed missiles, keeping in mind the need to prepare for a potential attack on Taiwan.

China fired 11 Dongfeng-15 (DF-15) missiles into waters around Taiwan during former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei in August 2022. The firing of the DF-15 was widely shown by Chinese state media to signal its disapproval of Pelosi's trip in a show of force not seen in decades.

The DF-15 has a range between 600-900 kilometers, according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for International Strategic Studies.

Another missile China has developed with Taiwan on its mind is the Dongfeng-17 (DF-17). The DF-17 was developed with a hypersonic glider, which allows the missile to travel at a speed above Mach 5 (Over five times the speed of sound), while also being difficult to intercept, according to Chinese state media.

The DF-17 has a range between 1,800 to 2,500 kilometers, according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for International Strategic Studies. The DF-17 has been described by some as the "aircraft carrier killer" because of its alleged ability to target an aircraft carrier without being detected.

In July 2022, the People's Liberation Army Rocket showed DF-17 being fired from a road-mobile launcher, which was claimed as a new capability that could target Taiwan while going undetected.

A Chinese missile expert has suggested the DF-17 will play a critical role in Beijing's military strategy in the immediate neighborhood, including against Taiwan.

"The DF-17 will play a vital role in safeguarding China's territorial integrity, as regions including the South China Sea, the Taiwan Straits, and Northeast Asia are all within its striking range," the missile expert, Yang Chengjun, told the state-run Global Times.