Taiwan sends main component of its most powerful missile to China for repair, sparks row

Taipei: The enmity between Taiwan and China is well known. China has threatened military action against Taiwan on several occasions. China and Taiwan had reached the brink of war during the visit of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island nation in November last year. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Taiwan had sent a part of its most powerful indigenously developed missile to China for repair. The name of this missile is Hsiung Feng III. It is a medium range anti ship missile. It has been developed by Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology. This missile is capable of attacking both land and sea. The feared transfer of the technology of this missile to China is considered a major lapse in Taiwan’s security. A theodolite – a precision optical instrument – of Taiwan’s Hsiung Feng III missile was sent to China’s Shandong province for repairs, the South China Morning Post reported. On Wednesday, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) said the theodolite was purchased from Swiss company Leica in 2021 and was recently sent back to the manufacturer for repairs. The agency said the memory storage card in the missile device was removed before it was sent back. The selling agent was asked to send the part to Switzerland. The repaired theodolite was sent back to Taiwan from an airport in Shandong, China. As soon as this information was received, the Taiwanese security agencies went on high alert. On investigation, it was found that this part was not repaired in Switzerland but in Shandong, China. Giving clarification, the Swedish company Leica, which manufactures this part, said that the center of maintenance of this part in Asia is in Shandong city east of Qingdao. Therefore, the part was sent to Shandong City, China for repair. After this, the Taiwanese agency NCSIST said that it has immediately performed a security check of the device and made sure that it did not contain any malware. “Thus we have effectively addressed the security concerns,” the agency said in a statement. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.