President Tsai Ing-wen has praised Taiwan’s naval capabilities at the launch of a new class of locally-manufactured warship. Tsai oversaw the commissioning of the ship on Thursday at a naval base in Su’ao, Yilan County.
In recent years, Taiwan has ramped up domestic development of military technology to reduce its reliance on technology from the US and Europe.
Thursday saw the launch of the Ta Chiang, an upgraded version of the existing Tuo Chiang-class corvette.
President Tsai praised the naval authorities for carrying out all necessary tests of battle-preparedness in less than a year. She says that this shows Taiwan can overcome any obstacles it faces on the road to military self-sufficiency.
Tsai says she hopes that with the new Ta Chiang warship on hand, Taiwan’s navy will be able to guard Taiwan’s territorial waters with “renewed vigor”.
Taiwan’s navy command says the ship is fitted with all the latest Taiwan-made weaponry. That includes Sea Sword II medium-range missiles, which should boost the navy’s air defense capabilities.