Despite speculation that the emergency landing of two US Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets at a Taiwanese air force base on Wednesday was a “political message” being sent by the Pentagon to Beijing, some Taiwanese analysts found the theory far-fetched.
It was an “unintended incident,” said Alexander Huang (黃介正), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.
“As far as I know, neither the US military nor the US government would take such action to send a message to China, Taiwan or any other nation in the region,” said Huang, a specialist on US defense and foreign policy and East Asian international relations.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
Huang also did not see the landing of the F/A-18s as being related to China’s deployment of H-6K aircraft — a strategic bomber capable of carrying cruise missiles — in recent western Pacific Ocean exercises, in contrast to military analysts such as Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the US-based International Assessment and Strategy Center.
Although the landings were unexpected, the incident demonstrated that “the US military sees its Taiwanese counterparts as like-minded partners” who are reliable, Huang said.
The incident — from the emergency landing to the departure of the F/A-18s after repairs were completed — also showed that the US and Taiwan have smooth communication channels that made dealing with the matter relatively easy, he said.
It did not take long for the mechanical glitch in one of the F/A-18s to be fixed and the fighters then left for their base in Japan, he added.
“If we see it as an unplanned military drill, it went quite well,” Huang said.
Echoing Huang’s remarks, military analyst Erich Shih (施孝瑋) described the incident as “a beautiful surprise.”
“It was definitely an unplanned incident,” Shih said, adding that the flight profile of the aircraft when it landed at the Tainan base showed that there was something wrong with its engine.
Although some said that the F/A-18s could have landed at a less controversial location, Shih said it is a pilot’s top priority to find a suitable location to land when experiencing an in-flight emergency.
The F/A-18 was flying over waters near southern Taiwan when it encountered the problem, which meant Japanese air bases were too far away, Shih said.
He also doubted that bases in the Philippines would have been able to meet the US military personnel’s needs, because they lack advanced infrastructure, leaving Taiwan as the best choice.
The two F/A-18s landed at Tainan Air Force Base on Wednesday afternoon. US personnel arrived late on Thursday to fix the problem in one of the fighters and completed their work on Friday morning.
The two fighters left for their base in Japan on Friday afternoon after repairs were completed. About two hours later, the C-130 transport airplane that carried the US personnel and aircraft parts from Japan to the Tainan base also departed Taiwan.
The fighters from US Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323) were en route from Japan to Singapore to participate in Commando Sling, an air-to-air combat exercise with Singapore’s military, when one of them had “a persistent engine oil pressure warning light,” a spokesman for the US Marine Corps said in Washington.
Units from the Republic of China Air Force’s 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing assisted the fighters with their landing and provided logistical assistance, Taiwanese military officials said.
The landing of the F/A-18s was a rarity, because the US does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, nor do its military aircraft use air bases in the nation.
Meanwhile, a soldier who took a photograph of an F/A-18 in a bunker and posted it on his Facebook page has been reprimanded for using a smartphone in a restricted area, the Air Force Command said on Friday.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
RSS