The incident occurred friday morning
when a 500-ton corvette that was sitting
in the Zooeying military harbor launched
a supersonic missile that streaked
nearly 40 nautical miles before hitting
a taiwanese boat that had been trawling
for shrimp. The fishing boat was northwest of the
warship, meaning that the missile that
was sent speeding toward it this morning
was also heading in the direction of
mainland china. The missile flew for more than two
minutes before hitting the boat.
At a briefing today officers from
taiwan's navy said they want to figure
out why its self-destruct mechanism
wasn't used. Instead of the missile being destroyed
an S-70C helicopter was sent to follow
its flight path. Navy officials say the missile was
designed to explode on impact with a
warship's metal hull and that the
fishing boat's lighter materials likely
kept the missile from exploding. Saying that the incident could have a
severe impact on relations between china
and taiwan.
The chinese mainland's taiwan
affairs Chief Zhang said the taiwan side
should offer a responsible explanation
of the matter. Discussing the situation today taiwan's
navy chief of staff may Chia Shu said
the navy didn't inform chinese
authorities about the launch because it
does not have contacts with the other
side of the taiwan strait.
According to
the focused taiwan news agency which
adds the navy instead reported the
incident to the higher authorities in
taiwan responsible for national security. The Chin Chang A-201 foot patrol ship
fired the Xi Young Feng 3 missile which
is designed to destroy ships and has a
range of about 185 miles while
undergoing an inspection during the
exercise at its base in gaoshang in
southern taiwan, a taiwan navy official
said.
The missile hit a gaoshang registered
fishing boat killing the captain, said Chen Chung Kai a spokesman for taiwan's
ministry of national defense. The captain was from taiwan and the
three injured crew members were from
taiwan, vietnam and the philippines Chen Chu the mayor of Gaoshang wrote on
facebook.
The missile's targeting system tracked
the fishing boat which happened to be in
its path causing a direct hit admiral
may said. but the missile which has a delayed fuse
to increase damage to large vessels like
aircraft carriers ripped through the
small boat without exploding, he said.
The missile was fired on the day that
china was honoring the 95th anniversary
of the founding of the communist party. China considers taiwan to be a part of
its territory that must eventually be
unified. China has put increasing pressure on
taiwan in recent weeks since Tsai Ing-wen
took office as president of taiwan. She is far more cautious toward
cross-strait ties than her predecessor.
Ms Tsai who is also commander-in-chief of
the armed forces was on a state visit to
paraguay, one of the few nations that
recognizes taiwan when the missile
accident occurred. Admiral May said that taiwan's navy has
no direct communication links to china's
navy and so relayed information about
the launching to the ministry of
national defense to contact the chinese
side.
