Responding to concerns that Pyongyang might launch a missile that could hit Taiwan, Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) said yesterday that the military is capable of intercepting a North Korean missile.
“It does not pose a threat to us,” he told legislators on the Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Kao said the chances of Taiwan being accidentally hit by a North Korean missile are low.
Asked whether the military could intercept a missile if one should come toward Taiwan by accident, he said “yes,” without elaborating.
At the center of attention was an air force long-range radar installation in Hsinchu County, which detected a North Korean launch in December last year minutes earlier than systems in Japan.
Kao said that each detection situation is different and it largely depends on the launch location, the type of rocket being launched and the direction in which it travels.
Taiwan was able to detect the December launch within a minute because the rocket was flying in the general direction of the Philippines, he said. Taiwan would be able to detect missiles aimed in other directions by drawing upon different intelligence sources, he added.
Ministry of National Defense officials also said that amid the continued saber-rattling by Pyongyang, there were major maneuvers in North Korea on Wednesday.
China flew a reconnaissance flight over the Yellow Sea, while the US sent five surveillance aircraft over waters west of the Korean Peninsula, the officials said.
In related news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised Taiwanese to defer trips to South Korea, but its travel advisory for South Korea remains at “gray,” the lowest-level advisory.
The four-level advisory system goes from gray to yellow, orange and red, which is the strongest warning.
Taiwanese have been advised to avoid non-essential travel to North Korea, for which the foreign ministry has issued an orange travel alert.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday night, the foreign ministry suggested that Taiwanese defer plans to visit South Korea for business, travel or study.
The Tourism Bureau said about 40 percent of scheduled group tours to South Korea had been cancelled as of Wednesday.
About 1,400 Taiwanese tourists are currently traveling in South Korea, and local travel agencies have been instructed to advise their clients to delay trips there or switch to other locations, the bureau said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and AFP
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
Several major reservoirs are estimated to have received 590 million tonnes of water inflow from June 4 to this morning, with storage levels at Wushantou Reservoir exceeding 50 percent and Zengwen Reservoir approaching 30 percent as of 9am today, data from the Water Resources Agency showed. Of the estimated 590 million tonnes, 450 million have already been stored in reservoirs, the data showed. As of 9am today, Baoshan Reservoir storage levels reached 100 percent, while Baoshan Second Reservoir, Yongheshan Reservoir and Techi Reservoir all exceeded 90 percent, data on the Water Resources Agency’s Web site showed. In addition, the Shimen Reservoir is at
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
RSS