Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) said yesterday the Chinese military has conducted more than 30 military exercices focusing on Taiwan.
Lee said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been growing in strength, and its military drills have been conducted under Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) principle of "talk less while doing more, hide the real but show the fake" (少說多做、隱真示假).
He highlighted the Chinese military threat yesterday morning during a meeting of the legislature's National Defense Committee. He said the Chinese military drills had emphasized landings on Taiwan, and the Chinese military believed it could land in a short period of time.
Lee said China has more than 20 satellites which were able to monitor Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait 24-hours a day. He said the quantity and quality of Chinese warships and submarines were increasing, and its power projection capabilities are also advancing.
Lee said China was also believed to be developing its first aircraft carrier. He said if China built an aircraft carrier force, it would be able to attack Taiwan from more directions.
Lee said China had targeted about 900 ballistic and cruise missiles at Taiwan, and the numbers were increasing at around 75 to 100 per year. China was also developing new missiles, Lee said.
He said about 500 advanced fighter jets with long-range missiles had also been deployed at China's military bases.
Lee noted that China had earmarked 351 billion yuan (US$45 billion) for its defense budget this year, an increase of 53 billion yuan over last year.
It was the the sharpest rise in the defense budget in a decade and a 17.8 percent increase in Beijing's military budget, he said.
Lee warned the military balance between China and Taiwan has been tipping in favor of Beijing.
The gap would increase if Taiwan did not build an advanced military force, he said.
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS