Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) urged the US on Thursday to approve the sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to Taiwan, saying the nation needs to acquire the aircraft to defend itself against China's military threat.
Wu made the remarks during an interview with US cable TV station C-span, in the wake of a Defense News report that the administration of US President George W. Bush has refused to sell 66 F-16C/D fighter aircraft requested by Taiwan.
The report said Washington is unhappy with Taiwan's unwillingness to approve funding for diesel-electric submarines, P-3C maritime patrol aircraft and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 anti-missile batteries from the US.
Wu said that the production of J-10A fighter aircraft by China has significantly upgraded China's air force and directly threatens the security of Taiwan.
With China continuing to expand its military deployments targeting Taiwan, the number of short-range ballistic missiles deployed by China along its coast opposite Taiwan has increased from several hundred to more than 1,000, Wu said. The number of submarines China has exceeded its needs, he said.
Wu said that not only Taiwan, but other countries have also felt China's military ambitions, citing the anti-satellite test recently carried out by China as an example.
Wu admitted that the Bush administration's refusal to approve the F-16C/D fighter aircraft sales is related to the delay of the previous arms procurement package, but said the legislature is expected to pass part of the budget in the new legislative session.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching