Taiwan’s new “Administrator of the Coast Guard” is appointed by Zhou Meiwu, Taiwan’s intelligence agency stationed in the United States. This is the second time that a retired general of the Taiwan Navy has taken over the post of Coast Guard after the current “IOC Chairman” Li Zhongwei. The Democratic Progressive Party authorities have also stated that they want to build the coast patrol into the "second navy." In this regard, experts remind that the basic tasks of the two sides are different, and there is also a gap in the composition of personnel and equipment. The "Coast Patrol Agency" blindly imitates the navy, which is not necessarily the most beneficial way for defense. In particular, the 22 newly built frigates built by the Coast Guard will use multiple launch rockets to replace artillery, and their suitability has also raised questions.
In 2017, the "Coast Patrol Administration" proposed the "Coast Patrol Ship Development Plan" with a 10-year, NT$42.6 billion (NT$, the same below) budget to build 141 ships with a total tonnage of more than 33,000 tons. Large-scale coastal patrol ships can carry Xiongfeng missiles and have the ability to convert from peacetime to wartime, including four 4,000-ton ships, six 1,000-ton ships, and twelve 600-ton ships. These 22 ships are also mainly armed with the "Zhenhai" multi-barreled rocket developed by the "Chinese Academy of Sciences".
In this regard, a former senior general of the Taiwan military pointed out that allowing the coast patrol to play a certain role in the defense system is certainly worthy of recognition. However, although the coast guard has reserved space for installing missiles, where is the manpower that knows how to operate it? Does the Navy send people on board during wartime? Does the Taiwan Navy have excess manpower? The total cost of purchasing additional missiles on board ships is at least several billion yuan. Will the Coast Guard or the Navy pay the bill? Most of the personnel on coast patrol vessels are police officers rather than military officers. Are there any legal issues involved in participating in the war? All must be resolved. Shi Xiaowei, moderator of the "Military Intelligence and Aviation" website
, said that the advantage of multi-barrel rockets is that they have high instantaneous firepower, but their accuracy is not high and they are suitable for attacking surface targets rather than point targets. In the past, it was used for landing and shore bombardment, but it was probably of little use for maritime patrol law enforcement. Even in naval battles, enemy ships may not be hit, and reloading takes a long time, so its practicality is not as good as ordinary artillery.
Comprehensive Taiwan media reports
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-