A top defense official yesterday said that the Chinese military still does not represent a threat to US forces in the Western Pacific but added that the modernization of its military was making great strides.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tang Huo-shen (
Tang said that a report to the US Congress released last week by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a high-level congressional advisory panel, indicated that China's military modernization was giving China a greater advantage in the Taiwan Strait, with China's increasing capability to deny access to US forces coming to Taiwan's aid.
He also made a reference to last week's news reports about a Chinese submarine that had been tracking a US Navy aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and had remained undetected until it surfaced within firing range.
The Chinese Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine was seen within 8km of the carrier, Tang said, according to the reports.
"If we link the congressional report with the submarine incid-ent, it raises questions as to whether the US is losing its military edge in the Western Pacific," Tang added.
The legislator said that if the US aircraft carrier group failed to detect the Chinese submarine, he wondered whether the Taiwanese Navy could do any better with the US made P-3C maritime patrol aircraft the country intends to purchase from the US.
In response, Deputy Minister of National Defense Ko Chen-heng (
"I think the US military is still confident it could emerge successfully from any encounter with the Chinese military and that China still does not represent a threat to US forces in the Western Pacific," Ko added.
Ko said that the military was aware that the Chinese submarine had surfaced around 8km from the US aircraft carrier. However, it had no information as to whether the submarine had surfaced voluntarily or had been forced to do so after being detected by US radar.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS