HONG KONG, January 16. /TASS/. Taiwan's military will build two new missile bases on the east coast, the island’s daily Ziyu Shibao has said.

The need for creating additional facilities for the storage and maintenance of such weapons stems from the growing production of anti-ship missiles Hsiung Feng and the expected deliveries of Harpoon missiles from the US.

One base, codenamed FXN, will emerge in the Xincheng urban district (Hualien County). As the newspaper notes, the Fuxingnan military base is on the agenda. The other similar facility - N425 - will be built in the Ji'an district of the Nanpu town. The two projects will have a budget of about $55.15 million. Both bases are to be up and running by the end of April 2026.

Last year, the Taiwanese authorities had already approved the construction of two more such facilities in Yilan County: J125 at the Jinliuze army base and YSA at the Suao naval base. The $78.1 million project is to be finalized by December 2025. They are to be commissioned by December 2025.

According to the daily, Taiwan's military also plans to build similar anti-ship missile sites in Yunlin, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung.

Missile armaments

Earlier, Taiwan's defense industry began mass production of subsonic anti-ship missiles HF-2 (Hsiung Feng-2) and supersonic HF-3 (Hsiung Feng-3) with a range of 148 to 200 km. In addition, the production of the enhanced HF-3 missile, capable of destroying targets at ranges of up to 400 kilometers, has been scaled up.

In 2020, the US and Taiwan signed a $2.37 billion contract on the supply of 100 coastal defense systems, including 400 land-based Harpoon anti-ship missiles and related equipment. Taiwan expects to receive the first shipments of US missiles in 2026. The deal is to be finalized by the end of 2028.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in the Chinese Civil War. Since then, Taiwan has retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the Communists rose to power. Beijing considers Taiwan as China’s province.