China mocks Taiwan as Swiss firm sends its missile parts to Beijing for 'repairs'

In what is being viewed in Beijing as "ironical," parts of Taiwan's Swiss-supplied Hsiung Feng III missile ended up in China for repairs as Taiwan's Defense Ministry had sent the 'carrier killer's theodolite back to Swiss manufacturer Leica to do some repairs. Taiwan’s Hsiung-Feng III anti-ship missile or Brave Wind 3, is known to be a supersonic anti-ship cruise missile that is touted to deter the assaults of the PLA Navy in case it was targeted.

The missile boasts a range of up to 400km and can have a payload of 225kg warhead. As it suffered a malfunction, the missile was sent to the People's Republic of China by the Swiss company Leica Geosystems for repairs, according to Taiwan News, which referenced the Chinese-language press Mirror Media. China, on Monday, mocked Taiwan for acquiring the Swiss missile that landed in Beijing for repair work. Taiwan, meanwhile, expressed concerns about the security threat with a Swiss company, stating that such a move could “potentially expose sensitive data from missile tests and endanger Taiwan’s national security," according to the state-affiliated news reports. 

Missile's unique telescope optics were sent for repair

The missile's “unique telescope optics, which can accurately measure various azimuths (distance in spherical areas) in only 0.5 seconds” were sent for repairs about a year ago as it had malfunctioned, the Mirror Media reported. The connector pins on two Leica theodolites had become extremely loose. Leica Builder T100/T200 is the defence company's highest-end electronic theodolite that boasts unique telescope optics. Taiwanese authorities found that the missile, in fact, had landed in China’s Shandong province, Qingdao as the Swiss firm's Asia unit is based out of China. The repairs took about three months that were done for two theodolites. 

Taiwan news later reported that checks found that “no malicious programmes were implanted” in the missile's parts used in precision components for aerospace, automotive, national defence, and optoelectronics. "It was in September that NCSIST personnel checked the import declaration form and other materials returned by Leica Geosystems' maintenance centre, and they noticed that something was amiss," the outlet reported. Hsiung-Feng III was developed by Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) with a supersonic speed and range of up to 400 km to counter Chinese PLA attacks on the island nation.