Taiwan intends to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise, but the biggest obstacle has been an objection raised by China, Ministry of National Defense officials said.
“We have sought such opportunities and have expressed our willingness to take part in RIMPAC, which is the largest naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean and is hosted by the US,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Admiral Chen Yung-kang (陳永康) said when he tabled a report at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
Chen also said talks are under way between the navy and its US counterpart on the use of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).
After establishing CUES protocol based on international radio signal communication procedures, Chen said that Taiwan’s “navy could then have the opportunity to go on toward the next step of participating in joint multinational naval exercises.”
Designed to reduce uncertainty and facilitate communication, CUES works to ensure safe and professional interactions on the high seas. The framework is also a tool for sea services to better promote international cooperation and transparency between the armed forces of different nations.
“Japan, South Korea, the Philippines — and China as well — each of them first agreed upon CUES with the US, then followed up with joint military exercises and further cooperation between the US and their armed forces,” Chen said.
“We were not able to do so in the past because of objections raised by China, but our armed forces are seeking to take part in bilateral or multilateral military exercises, and we will not give up. It is up to the host country. If they invite us, then we will participate,” he added.
Meanwhile, ministry officials yesterday confirmed that the military plans for the first time to dispatch Lockheed P-3C Orion marine patrol aircraft on surveillance missions to the South China Sea in the near future.
The ministry’s budget report sent to the legislature said that the military has taken delivery of eight US-made P-3Cs and another four are to be delivered by the end of this year.
The aircraft are mainly engaged in marine reconnaissance and joint surveillance in Taiwan’s surrounding waters and its air defense identification zone, the report said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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