Taiwan mistakenly fires supersonic missile towards China

TIL Desk/World/Beijing-A Taiwanese warship today “mistakenly” fired a supersonic “anti-ship missile” towards China as it celebrated 95th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party amid assertions by President Xi Jinping ruling out independence for Taiwan. The “accidental launch” of the domestically developed Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile from a naval base in Kaohsiung, south of the island, took place as Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, was overseas.

“The missile was launched by operational error. We are investigating the case,” Vice-Admiral Mei Chia-hsu of the Taiwanese Navy was quoted as saying. Asked if the incident risked a misunderstanding with Beijing, Mei said the navy had reported the incident to the island’s defence ministry, which would handle the case accordingly. The missile, with a range of 300 kilometres, flew about 75 kilometres before plunging into waters off Penghu, a Taiwanese -administered island in the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwanese missile did not pass the mid-course line of the Taiwan Strait, Mei said, which meant it was not aimed at Fujian province, which lies on the other side of the strait. Mei said the Chinchiang (PCG-610) patrol ship was undergoing a drill inspection when officers failed to follow standard operating procedures and launched the missile by mistake. “It did not cause any injury,” Mei told media after the navy headquarters clarified that the launch was accidental.