Taiwan admits developing graphite bomb to counter China threat

Oct 22, 2007, 11:09 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan confirmed Monday it was developing a non-lethal graphite bomb designed to disable a city's power supply in the face of growing military threats from rival China.

But the military denied that it would use the bomb on China.

'The development is to facilitate us in evaluating how serious the damage (would be) should a city suffer from such an attack,' said Wu Wei-jung, head of the Military Supplies and Logistics Department under the Defence Ministry.

He said Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology under the ministry is developing the weapon solely for research purposes.

His comments came after local news media reported that the island is developing a non-lethal graphite bomb to paralyze the power supply system of rival China in the event of a cross-strait war between the two rival sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The local United Daily News said the bomb development project, to cost about 22 million dollars, would start in 2008. The daily also said the military planned to use its recently developed Hsiung Feng 2E missile to carry the bomb. The missile has a range of at least 600 kilometres, capable of reaching Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The so-called 'blackout' bomb, used by the United States during the war with Iraq in 2003, can effectively disable 85 per cent of power supplies of a major city.

Taiwan and China have remained at loggerheads since the two sides split at the end of the civil war in 1949. Taiwan has repeatedly protested against China's rapid military build-up and deployment of close to 1,000 missiles aimed at the island.