FEATURE | Taiwan fortifies frontline islands against potential Chinese assault

In the pre-dawn darkness on an island in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese troops earlier this month pulled long, gleaming 105mm shells from their green plastic canisters. After all the ammunition had been checked and safely loaded through hatches on four tanks, troops waited silently for the order to fire.

The soldiers are among the thousands of troops that form a garrison on the Penghu Islands and they are training for war with China. If Beijing decides to attack, they will be on Taiwan’s frontline.

A popular tourist destination known for its pristine beaches and coral reefs, this strategically crucial cluster of 90 islands and islets, about 50 kilometres off the southwest coast of the main island of Taiwan, would be hit in the first wave of an attempted Chinese invasion, according to senior Taiwanese security officials and military experts.

For Taiwan, holding Penghu would allow its forces to resist a Chinese invasion fleet heading towards the main island of Taiwan, the security experts said. To ensure that Chinese ships and planes don’t become targets, Beijing must seize Penghu or destroy the garrison’s long-range missiles.

If PLA ships tried to attack Taiwan while bypassing Penghu, these ships, “could be struck by missiles from Penghu,” said Su Tzu-yun of Taiwan's top military think tank, the Institute for National Defence and Security Research. “That forces the PLA to attack Penghu before it can attack Taiwan,” he said, referring to China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army.

By deploying longer-range weapons such as Hsiung Feng III missiles on Penghu, a senior Taiwanese official told Reuters, Taiwan could also make it harder for the PLA to assemble forces along the Chinese coast for an invasion. These forces could be targeted even before they set out across the Strait.

If Penghu were taken, the entire Taiwan Strait would effectively fall into China's hands, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.