The US has agreed to "conditionally" share its military satellite data with Taiwan, it was reported yesterday.
Once linked to the US satellite system codenamed "Defense Support Project" (DSP), Taiwan would be able to allow up to seven more minutes in advance while its Patriot anti-missile weaponry prepared to intercept any incoming missiles, a local Chinese-language newspaper said.
It said the Taiwan military plans to set up ground stations over the next five years to plug Taiwan Patriot systems to the US military satellite system.
The Taiwan defense ministry was tight-lipped on the reported military cooperative project, a move Beijing may interpret as a further step towards a military alliance between the US and Taiwan which it regards as part of its territory.
But Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) told the legislature yesterday "it would be his pleasure to see the development," without providing details.
Washington is Taiwan's leading arms supplier.
In July, the Pentagon made public a report in which the US questioned China's commitment to a peaceful resolution of its differences with Taiwan.
The report broke new ground by emphasizing that China was exploring strategies that would use missile strikes, blockades and even cyberwarfare, rather than a D-Day-style invasion, to bring Taiwan to heel.
It said the People's Liberation Army has deployed 350 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan, with the number expected to increase at a rate of 50 a year.
Last year, US President George W. Bush caused a furor in China by saying that the US would do whatever it takes to defend Taiwan.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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