DEFENSE/Taiwan's military will be more discreet about deployments: Minister

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's armed forces will step up efforts to tighten operational security, the country's defense minister said Thursday after an article in a United States-based magazine noted that China had precisely mapped the locations of 12 anti-ship missile systems.

According to an article published in Foreign Policy on Oct. 21, a Chinese research and consulting company had pinpointed 12 locations around Taiwan proper or in its vicinity where the country's Hai Feng Group, comprising stationary and mobile units armed with indigenous Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles, deployed its units during China's Joint Sword 2024-A drills in May.

Asked by reporters for comment at the Legislature, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said the armed forces would redouble efforts to manage operational security, including strengthening measures to hide military assets.

Koo said that the deployment of any missile unit in the Hai Feng Group was not limited to one predetermined location but conceded that he could not comment on the details.

Koo has previously said at a legislative hearing that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is capable of locating fixed military bases in Taiwan, so it is key that the PLA be prevented from locating or predicting Taiwan's mobile military deployments.

The Hsiung Feng II subsonic missiles and the Hsiung Feng III supersonic missiles used by the Hai Feng Group were developed by Taiwan's weapons developer National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology.

The missile batteries can be deployed in ship-launched, car-mounted or land-based configurations and represent a key component in Taiwan's coastal defense.

While acknowledging that stationary Hai Feng bases can be located by Chinese satellites, the Foreign Policy article warned that the media and the public in Taiwan had allowed the Chinese company to get a hold of information on the positions of missile deployments.

According to the Foreign Policy article, the Chinese company was able to locate some of the mobile missile units with the help of photos previously published by the Taiwanese media or messages posted on social media.

"While the Taiwanese media or netizens didn't go as far as specifying the exact location, all it took for the Chinese researchers was some web sleuthing using public resources like Google Maps to search for and pinpoint exact spots from available photos," it said.

The Foreign Policy article also cited a United Daily News reporter as saying that he was able to take photos of missile launch vehicles belonging to the units stationed in the Kenting National Park, Pingtung County in response to the Chinese drills, thanks to tip-offs from locals.