Taiwan unveils its latest home-grown armored fighting vehicle amid growing tensions with China

• The Taiwanese military paraded their latest home-grown service vehicles this week.
• The CM-34 Clouded Leopard is an eight-wheeled armored vehicle, loaded with a US-made Bushmaster 30mm chain gun.

The Taiwanese military has paraded their latest home-grown armored vehicle this week amid growing tensions between them and China.

The CM-34 Clouded Leopard is an eight-wheeler armed with a US-made Mk44 Bushmaster 30mm chain gun, according to Reuters.

While Taiwan largely relies on the US for its weaponry, six of these vehicles are built monthly in a Taiwanese weapons plant in the remote mountainous area of Jiji, Nantou county, Reuters reports, where journalists were allowed for this first time this week.

More than 170 are already in service, and 305 will eventually be built.

The Clouded Leopard is designed for highly mobile warfare, operating in all weathers. has a top speed of 62 miles per hour. I is named after the now-extinct wild cat that Taiwan's indigenous people believed was sacred, according to Reuters.

Earlier this week, the Chinese government said it would fight to the very end to stop Taiwanese independence, with Wie Fenghe, Minister of National Defense of China, saying, "If anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, we will not hesitate to fight. W will fight at all costs. A d we will fight to the very end."

President Biden responded that the US would use military force to defend Taiwan if it were attacked by China.

"We agree with a one-China policy. W 've signed on to it, and all the intended agreements were made from there. B t the idea that, that it can be taken by force, just taken by force is just not appropriate," the President said

Colonel Su Jen-Pao, in charge of developing the CM-34, said Taiwan must become self-reliant in the decades-old military stand-off with China. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made that clear," he said, according to NHK World-Japan.