Missile tests cause alarm among island dwellers
ROC Central News Agency
2010/06/22 22:52:23
By Lu Tai-cheng and Maubo Chang
Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Three "fishing boats" moored in the ocean between Green Island and Orchid Island off the coast of eastern Taiwan were reported to have been hit by missiles Tuesday, but coast guard officers who rushed to the scene found instead that the vessels were targets for missile tests.
Residents of Orchid Island who spotted the boats trailing smoke after several explosions that afternoon alerted the coast guard authorities on the island.
However, when a coast guard patrol boat reached the scene, the crew found a Navy tugboat towing the fishing boats away. The tugboat crew told the coast guard that the boats are targets that had been hit successfully by missiles developed by the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CIST) under the Ministry of National Defense.
The missiles were launched from the CIST's Jioupeng base in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County, the coast guard officers were told. Also in the area was a naval vessel, the Perry-class frigate Banchao, which is equipped with indigenous Hsiung Feng II ship-to-ship missiles.
The testing, which began June 20, will last through June 25, according to the CIST.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
