Taiwan’s President witnessed the commissioning of a new domestically build navy warship on Thursday as part of the island’s plan to improve indigenous defence capability amid tensions with China.
President Tsai Ing-wen, at a naval base in Su’ao, said “the ship proves that on the path to becoming independent in national defense, no matter what difficulties arise, we can overcome them one by one.”
The newly commissioned ship is named the ‘Ta Jiang’ and nicknamed ‘carrier killer’. It is built by Lung Teh Shipbuilding Co., a Taiwanese company. The ship is designed to have air defense capabilities and can carry anti-ship missiles. It is the first of six of its kind that will be commissioned by the navy.
This warship has pushed the military aviation industry with the production of new trainer jets and called for the development of more advanced systems by utilizing Taiwan’s high-tech industries.
Taiwan is presently producing its own submarine after four years of research and design. It decided to build its own after Beijing thwarted it from buying such craft from abroad in recent years through the use of economic and diplomatic threats.
