Arsenal will sharply increase its arsenal of powerful anti-ship missiles to more than 1,800 by early 2029, as it seeks to enhance its capacity to counter a mounting threat of blockade or invasion by China, according to a Reuters calculation. This expanding arsenal of weapons that can be fired from aircraft, ships and ground-based launchers is part of Taiwan’s shift towards a so-called asymmetric strategy, where the island’s defenders seek to offset China’s massive advantage in firepower with big numbers of affordable but deadly weapons. These also include shorter-range missiles and swarms of surface and aerial drones, say current and former Taiwan military officers. Taiwan, these officers say, aims to build a resilient force designed to survive an opening Chinese air-and-missile bombardment and emerge in a position to strike an invasion fleet or ships blockading the island. The officers point to the success of Ukraine and Iran in using missiles and drones to level the playing field in battling more powerful adversaries. The Reuters calculation of Taiwan’s growing anti-ship missile arsenal is based on arms trade data, U.S. export approval documents, estimates from defense analysts, and interviews with Taiwanese government officials. Additional precision missiles with sufficient range to attack Chinese vessels in the Taiwan Strait or forces at embarkation ports on China’s coast, are also in the pipeline after Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament approved an extra $25 billion in defense spending for U.S. munitions last month. The spearhead of Taiwan’s anti-ship arsenal is made up of U.S.-supplied Harpoon missiles and domestically produced Hsiung Feng missiles. A big force of these weapons will be deployed in the Taiwan Strait, where they will be used to attack Chinese warships and other vessels.