China yesterday defended its military buildup and called for calm over North Korea as the global community looked to Beijing for a breakthrough in efforts to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian (馬嘯天), deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), told a top-level security forum in Singapore that China would “consistently” adhere to a “military strategy of active defense.”
But he also said Beijing needed to boost its military capabilities to counter security threats and support its commitments to help ensure international peace and stability.
China’s neighbors and the US have been wary of its growing military might because of fears that Beijing might be harboring territorial and other strategic ambitions.
Ma also said China understood the concerns of immediate neighbors Japan and South Korea and that “we are resolutely opposed to nuclear proliferation.”
Dressed in his military uniform and speaking to defense chiefs, military officers, security analysts and diplomats at the Singapore conference, Ma sought to assure China’s neighbors of Beijing’s peaceful intentions.
“China steadfastly pursues a policy of building friendship and partnership with neighboring countries … [and] adheres to a defense policy which is defensive in nature and a military strategy of active defense,” he said.
China is committed to developing military ties with other countries and has been a “positive participant” in various regional security forums, he said.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Tokyo would be transparent with its military hardware purchases in order to prevent any misunderstanding with neighbors.
“We have mentioned that North Korea is a threat because of what has happened in the past, but unless there are other countries moving to us, we will never start an action as such,” Hamada said.
“In Japan, we have various and numerous constraints and internationally, we have also made clear that we do not use force in order to resolve conflict situations,” he said.
He told the forum Tokyo was looking at a range of weapon procurements including the F-22 fifth-generation fighter aircraft but stressed these were “only for the defense of the country as such.”
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS