China's fighter planes have not encroached on Taiwan's air space, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed yesterday, refuting media reports claiming incursions across the "middle line" of the Taiwan Strait.
A private meeting on Tuesday between lawmakers and Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (
At an emergency press conference on Tuesday evening, defense officials said the reports were not true, as they were based on a misinterpretation of what General Tang had said to lawmakers from the People First Party (PFP).
"What Tang said at that meeting involved two separate cases of Chinese fighter planes crossing the middle line of the Taiwan Strait last summer -- after President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) redefined cross-strait relations as being special `state-to-state' in nature," defense ministry spokesman Major General Kung Fan-ding (孔繁定) said.
"Tang did not talk about any recent occurrence of the same kind to the lawmakers. There has been no close approach of Chinese fighter planes since the last two incidents, which occurred last July and last August respectively," Kung said.
Despite the defense ministry's denial, Wang Tien-ging (
Another PFP lawmaker, Chin Huei-chu (
According to Chinese newspapers that quoted unidentified PFP lawmakers, Tang said the air force did nothing to stop the fighter planes from entering Taiwan's airspace so as to avoid the possibility of an outbreak in hostilities.
But another defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday there had indeed been sightings of close approaches by Chinese warplanes over the past few months.
The official said that on at least one occasion it had been US planes which expelled the intruders.
At the end of February, five Chinese military planes flew west of the offshore Penghu islands, under close watch by a number of US fighter planes, the official said.
The planes, including two Hung-6 bombers and three Su-27 jet fighters, were only 10 nautical miles away from Penghu at the closest, the official said.
The antiquated Hung-6 bombers do not pose a real threat to Taiwan by themselves, but some have reportedly been converted into electronic warfare planes.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
RSS