Security around Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) remains unchanged, a military official said yesterday in response to lawmakers’ concerns about a military challenge in light of the recent anti-China riots in Vietnam.
There have been online rumors in Vietnam, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-Liang (蔡煌瑯) said, that Hanoi may fire toward Taiping Island — or even try to take it over with military force — to ease Vietnamese unrest, which erupted last week after China deployed an oil rig near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) — claimed by Taipei, Beijing and Hanoi.
Tsai spoke at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Andrew Hsia (夏立言) responded that the ministry had not received information about the possibility of such an attack.
He said the island was stationed by and ably protected by the Coast Guard Administration.
Military troops could reach the island in four hours using C-130 transport vehicles, Hsia said, adding that in good weather, Cheng-kung class frigates could arrive 36 hours.
Meanwhile, the government yesterday launched computerized war games, which featured its newly acquired AH-64 Apache helicopters defending a simulated attack by a Chinese aircraft carrier group.
The five-day drill, part of the nation’s biggest annual military maneuvers scheduled for September, is aimed at testing the military’s defense capability against China’s fast-expanding military, defense officials said, without providing details.
One scenario simulated attacks by a Chinese aircraft carrier group on the east coast, according to Chinese-language Apple Daily.
With defense focused on the west coast facing China, the east is relatively vulnerable to any Chinese invasion, analysts say.
The drill features for the first time weaponry acquired last year, including the latest variant of US-made Apaches, which military gurus say is the world’s most-lethal attack helicopter; P-3C submarine hunting aircraft; and an upgraded version of the nation’s Indigenous Defense Fighter, the Apple Daily said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
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