The air force is to participate in a drill with a European country next year, a local newspaper reported yesterday, calling it a breakthrough in the nation’s military cooperation with Europe.
Asked to confirm the report, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said Taiwan would welcome any moves that help boost military exchanges with foreign nations and could bolster its combat capabilities.
“However, we will not comment on any related details,” he said.
The report in yesterday’s edition of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) cited an unnamed military official as saying that the air force would send a team to “a European country” next year to participate as an observer in a national-level air force exercise in that nation.
The report said that the military had also given top priority to expanding the nation’s “quasi-military alliance” with the US.
These include Taiwan’s plan to test-fire its US-made Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles at a US base next year and a planned visit by a military delegation to the Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana to observe the training of military personnel.
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