TAIWAN COAST GUARD GETS MISSILE CORVETTE, PATROL BOAT

President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday touted Taiwan's indigenous ship program as the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) took delivery of a new missile corvette and a patrol vessel during a ceremony in Kaohsiung, Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

Speaking at the ceremony, Tsai reiterated that the government will continue to enhance Taiwan's indigenous shipbuilding capabilities as part of its efforts to further strengthen the country's national defenses, Matt Yu and Ko Lin wrote for CNA.

The addition of the new vessels showcases Taiwan's determination to defend its territorial waters, she said, highlighting the increasing occurrence of Chinese dredgers that have trespassed into Taiwanese waters to extract sand from areas near the Matsu Islands this year. "Such acts will never be tolerated," Tsai said, indicating that the CGA will not be lenient when it comes to protecting Taiwan's territorial waters.

Built by the Kaohsiung-based Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Group, the new vessels are a 600-ton corvette named Anping and a 35-ton fast patrol boat. According to the CGA, the CG-601 Anping is a modified version of the Navy's Tuo Jiang-class corvette, which is capable of traveling at over 44 knots. Apart from patrolling the coast, the corvette is able to conduct rescue missions and is responsible for protecting Taiwan's waters, including intercepting smugglers and chasing away trespassing Chinese boats, the CGA said. Apart from a water cannon with a maximum range of 120 meters, Anping is also armed with high explosive rockets and a 20mm cannon.