Top defense officials yesterday said they are monitoring the South China Sea situation closely, and that Taiwan’s armed forces have contingency plans in place and are capable of defending the nation’s island outposts if a conflict breaks out.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Admiral Chen Yung-kang (陳永康) downplayed the escalation of tensions and possible conflict following the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen’s passage in the South China Sea by saying these are “routine missions” by warships in the region.
Chen was asked about media reports that Washington is next to send aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on the same route during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
“The South China Sea is among the most dense and busiest shipping routes in the world. So it is not just the Americans, but many countries’ warships will transit through it when they intend to head to the Indian Ocean and other places. They may or may not declare [their route], but it is a routine situation either way,” Chen said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) asked about the military’s readiness to defend the nation’s territories in the South China Sea, in the event of a conflict.
“If that happens, our armed forces will not hide away, nor become frightened. Right now, the patrol and supply missions by our navy and air force units to the Spratly Islands [Nansha Islands, 南沙群島] are being carried out according to regular schedule,” said Lieutenant General Chou Hau-yu (周皓瑜), deputy director of operations and planning at the Office of Deputy Chief of the General Staff.
Chou said routine missions to the defense posts on Taiwan’s outlying islands are continuing, and added: “Our armed forces have contingency plans to deal with different situations in the Pratas Islands [Dongsha Islands, 東沙] and Spratly Islands.”
Later at the meeting, DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) asked whether the defense ministry would seek help from other countries if the US and China clash and China attacks Taiwan.
Deputy Chief of the General Staff Admiral Pu Tze-chun (蒲澤春) said that the armed forces “will staunchly defend the nation,” while the nation would also appeal to the international community.
“We will seek military assistance from other countries, but it is up to each nation to decide themselves, whether they will dispatch troops. However, we have the resolute determination to defend our nation and protect our homeland. Our armed forces will not back down, and will carry out their combat missions to the death,” Pu said.
Following Pu’s remarks, other legislators said it is most important for the nation’s citizens to defend their country, because a war is usually lost if a nation has to depend on help from other nations.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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