Taiwan’s Missiles Can Strike Beijing, Three Gorges Dam, Island’s Politician Says

US-made missile streaks across Taiwan's sky during training exercise. (Getty Images)

A top politician in Taiwan warned that the island’s government had missiles capable of targeting Beijing, and that it would defend itself from an invasion by China’s communist regime.

You Si-kun, president of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, said that Taiwan had supersonic cruise missiles capable of striking Beijing should China’s communist regime invade.

“Yun Feng missiles can already hit Beijing,” You said. “Taiwan has the ability to attack Beijing.”

The Yun Feng series of missiles are domestically produced in Taiwan. They were first publicly acknowledged in 2012 and entered mass production in 2019.

You, who served as premier of Taiwan in the early 2000s, said that he was not previously allowed to reveal the full capability of the missile to the public. Now that it was mass-produced, however, he said that its range was sufficient to reach China’s capital city of Beijing, as well as the Three Gorges Dam, which is the world’s largest power station.

Speaking with the Taiwan Overseas Network, You said that an examination of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine had led him to believe that the people of Taiwan needed to take a more active role in preparing for a communist invasion.

Moreover, he said, Taiwan must not depend on the nations of the world to save it. Instead, it must prepare to fight to the last bullet. “Self-help,” he said, was vital to showing the world that Taiwan was worth saving, as was demonstrated by the resistance against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Then, he said, the democracies of the world would be compelled to come to Taiwan’s aid, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would become the enemy of Australia, Japan, and the United States.

You said that, in addition to striking the mainland with supersonic missiles, Taiwan would use the 100-mile strait between the two to mount a massive defense and sink CCP warships before they could reach the island.

“The [Chinese Community Party] must cross the Taiwan Strait to attack Taiwan, which is different from Russia’s attack on Ukraine,” You said.

You pejoratively called communist China the “Celestial Empire,” in reference to its revanchist foreign policy, and said that the island of Taiwan would never be swallowed up by the CCP.

“If you want to land, you will fight on the beachhead. If the landing is successful, everyone in Taiwan must be as determined to die as [they are in] Ukraine,” You said. “Go out and never let China swallow Taiwan.”

The CCP currently rules China as a single-party state, and considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province. CCP leader Xi Jinping has vowed to unite the two entities, and has not ruled out the use of force to do so.

Taiwan has been fully self-governed since 1949, however, and has never been under the control of the CCP.

The United States has not recognized Taiwan as an independent nation since 1979. Washington does, however, maintain a commitment to Taipei, outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act, in which it guarantees it will provide Taiwan with the military capabilities required to defend itself and maintain its de facto independence.