Taiwan Asks Google to Blur a Secret Island Base, Plan Backfires
Taiwan had good reason to want to hide a secret island base in the South China Sea. The country is building military fortifications on the island whose legal status is claimed or disputed by multiple countries. Taiwan asked Google to blur out the base on Google Maps, but that request has now backfired because was made public.
The location is Itu Aba or Taiping Island. It lies 763 miles south of Taiwan in the Spratly Islands. Taiwan has controlled Itu Aba since the 1950s, but China and Vietnam have openly claimed the islands, and the nearby Philippines contends this one is legally only a "rock" that does not qualify for full territorial rights.
The request seems to involve four new concrete structures that have popped up on the north side of the island in the last eight months. In January 2016, the director of the Center of Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative visited Itu Aba with Taiwanese officials. At the time, the structures were not present.
Right now, Google Maps shows a cluster of four Y-shaped concrete structures with what appears to be strua cture under construction in the center. This is consistent with an air defense battery made of either guns or missiles with search and tracking radars located in the center of the cluster. Here's a similar air defense facility protecting the Vietnamese Air Force base at Kep:
t's unknown exactly what air defense weapon the structures are meant for, but they could be meant for Skyguard radar-controlled air defense guns, which can engage aircraft at low to medium altitudes at ranges of up to 13,000 feet.
This is not the first time Taiwan has bungled a secret operation visible in Google Maps. In 2009, Taipei disguised HF-2E land attack cruise missile trucks as commercial delivery trucks, complete with a fake company name, "Red Bird Express." After rumors began to circulate about the mysterious vehicles, a roof suddenly appeared over the truck parking lot.
Source: NBC News.
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