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.
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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