Taiwan Building Five Bases for US-Made Anti-Ship Harpoon Missiles

Taiwan is building five new military bases to house US-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles, The South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

In 2020, the US approved a $2.37 billion arms sale to Taiwan for 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems and 400 Harpoon Block II missiles. Taiwan is scheduled to receive the land-based Harpoon missiles from the US in 2026.

Four of the new bases will be built in southern Taiwan counties, which are located on the Taiwan Strait and face China. Four separate contracts worth $148.7 million each have been awarded for the construction of each base. The other base will be built in Taitung, a county on the east coast.

The Post said the initial plan was to build a sixth base in the southwestern county of Yunlin, but it was scrapped after facing opposition from locals who feared the base would make their area a target of the Chinese military.

News of the construction comes amid growing tensions in the region between the US and China both over Taiwan and the South China Sea. In recent years, the US has been significantly increasing its support for Taiwan despite strong objections from Beijing.

Last year, the US began providing military aid to Taiwan for the first time. Since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979, the US has always sold weapons to Taiwan but never financed the purchases or provided weapons free of charge until 2023.