Any attack using American-made weaponry would prompt a forceful and decisive reaction, according to a military spokesperson.
Beijing has issued a warning of “annihilation” for any Taiwanese forces that try to employ US-provided missile systems to carry out preemptive attacks on the Chinese mainland.
This caution comes in response to media speculation that the administration governing the self-ruled Chinese island is contemplating stationing HIMARS launchers equipped with ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles on outlying islands that are geographically nearer to the mainland than Taiwan itself.
On Tuesday, Chinese military spokesman Jiang Bin denounced the concept of forward deployment, stating that talk of such systems being utilized to strike China was growing “increasingly absurd and overconfident.” He attributed these ideas to factions promoting Taiwan’s formal independence, cautioning that they risk inciting a war and would “suffer certain annihilation” should hostilities break out.
Under an $11.1 billion arms deal revealed by the US government last December, Taipei has purchased 82 M142 HIMARS systems and 420 ATACMS missiles. With a range of 300 km, deploying these ballistic missiles to islands like Penghu and Dongyin would allow them to hit extensive coastal regions. The danger presented by HIMARS was highlighted in Chinese media reports on a naval drill held near Taiwan in late December.
Taiwan’s practical self-rule stems from its history as the final stronghold for nationalist forces defeated in the Chinese civil war of the 1940s. While Beijing aims for peaceful unification, it has stated that any step by Taipei toward an official declaration of independence will be countered with military action.
Chinese authorities view American weapons deliveries to Taiwan as a factor that destabilizes relations across the strait, contending that they embolden pro-independence groups to undertake progressively hazardous actions.