Taiwan test-fires rockets in China’s direction from US-supplied mobile launching system

Taiwan’s military fired rockets in China’s direction from “shoot-and-scoot” mobile launchers on Wednesday in a demonstration of how it might try to repel a Chinese attack.

While the US-supplied system known as HIMARS has been tested before, the latest live-fire exercise was the first time its rockets were fired into the waters of the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the self-governing island from China.

“Due to the current enemy threat, we will continue HIMARS training with unwavering determination to protect Taiwan as the nation’s strongest force,” army Sgt. Wang Ming-hui said.

The military said it used reduced-range practice rockets that don’t fly very far from the coast before falling into the water.

When asked about the test-firing by CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Wednesday, Taiwan’s representative to the US Alexander Yui said the army was practicing with the newly-acquired HIMARS.

“We’re an island; we can only shoot east or west, so they chose west,” he told CNN.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province and says it must come under its control at some point in the future. It sends warships and planes into the skies and waters near the island almost every day and has held major military exercises in its vicinity in recent years. The United States does not recognize Taiwan as a country, but it opposes any change to its status by force and is its main supplier of weaponry for its defense.