The nation’s defense policy plans include expanding the number of units sharing sister relations with US military units in the coming year and further solidifying the “virtual alliance” between the Taiwanese and US militaries, while looking to establish “actual alliance” relationships with other allied nations, military officials said.
The military has been invited to visit the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico next year to conduct live-fire tests of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air missiles, officials said.
Planned exercises for the visit to the US Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana ,include observation of the training of US forces prior to deployment in simulated scenarios.
The air force has also been invited to attend national air force drills in Europe as an observer next year, officials said, adding that it was a big step toward establishing “actual” military alliances in the region.
Budgets and primary goals have been submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review, with aims to establish new contacts, maintaining current military contacts and forming actual military alliances acting as guidelines for the coming year, officials said.
The Ministry of National Defense said it hopes to be invited to observe and even participate in US military drills in an effort to enhance joint combat capabilities, adding that such invitations could help establish trust and consensus between the Taiwanese and US armed forces.
Taiwan should also look to forge alliances outside of the US and Japan by stepping up military interaction with regional players such as South Korea, Southeast Asian nations, Central and South America and Africa, the ministry said.
Visits by high-ranking military officials, academic interaction, training exercises and arms sales are all methods to be considered, the ministry said, adding that multiple military cooperation agreements with regional players would help establish a safe cooperation mechanism that would be conducive to maintaining regional stability.
Earlier this month, US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said that a new Taiwan arms package is making its way through the channels of the US political system.
“I would characterize the programs that are being looked at now — and these have all popped up in the last year or so — as house cleaning,” Hammond-Chambers said.
The new package is to consist of second-hand equipment, upgraded equipment and munitions.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported