Inspired by spectacular Ukrainian hits on the Russian navy, Taiwan will order 200 automated sea drones to thwart a Chinese invasion, according to reports.
The unmanned drones, laden with explosives, are capable of travelling hundreds of kilometres to remotely hit massive aircraft carriers, destroyers and battleships.
According to Taiwan’s Liberty Times newspaper, Taipei wants hundreds of sea drones to destroy or slow down Chinese warships approaching the island nation.
Beijing has long claimed Taiwan as a breakaway part of the mainland and has refused to rule out force in reclaiming it.
Manufactured by Taiwan’s state-owned arms developer, the drones would be fitted out with sonar, radar and weapons.
Drones used by the Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted heavy damage and sunk Russian naval vessels in the Black Sea.
Dramatic footage supplied by Ukraine has shown naval drones racing toward Russian ships and exploding on impact.
Other footage to emerge from the conflict shows Russian navy ships peppering the ocean with gunfire, trying to blow up the drones as they approach at high speeds.
China now wields the largest naval force in the world, and the West and its allies have long been wary of the new superpower’s ambitions in Asia-Pacific.
China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway also of immense importance to the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
For the past 20 years, China has occupied a number of obscure reefs and atolls across the South China Sea, building up military installations, including runways and ports.
The 3 million-square-kilometre waterway is vital to international trade, with an estimated third of global shipping worth trillions of dollars passing through each year.
The final weeks of 2023 saw heated stand-offs between Chinese and Philippines coastguard vessels in the region, further inflaming tension in the region.
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