The annual Wanan air raid drills are to be held across the nation from this month to May, while the Minan disaster prevention drill will include anti-terrorism exercises in preparation for the Universiade in August.
The 40th Wanan drill, a military and civilian exercise, is to be held in seven regions on Taiwan proper and the outlying islands to build public awareness of defense, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
Streets will be evacuated from 1:30pm to 2pm to allow for military exercises, disaster prevention drills, air-raid siren tests and traffic control.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
The National Police Agency will also test its mobile phone text alert system during the exercise, with information on the annual drill being sent to users when air raid sirens are turned on, All-out Defense Mobilization Office Director Major General Han Kang-ming (韓岡明) said.
The first exercise is to be held in Kinmen County on Tuesday next week, followed by Matsu on Thursday, Hualien and Taitung on March 2, central Taiwan on April 13, southern Taiwan on May 11, northern Taiwan on May 18 and Penghu County on May 24.
Meanwhile, the Minan disaster prevention drill is to be held in Taitung County on March 2, New Taipei City on March 9, Hualien County on March 16, Taichung on March 23, Taipei on March 29 and 30, Tainan on April 6, Chiayi City on April 13, Keelung on April 20, Taoyuan on April 27, Kaohsiung on May 11 and Hsinchu City on May 18.
The drills are meant to familiarize the military and civilians with region-specific disasters and response procedures, with representatives of the nation’s diplomatic allies to be invited to observe the exercises, Han said.
The ministry will cooperate with the Executive Yuan’s Office of Homeland Security to conduct counterterrorism drills during the Minan exercise in Taipei to prepare the city government for the Universiade in summer, Han said.
“The Wanan drill is to familiarize the armed forces and civilians with the nation’s air defense to reduce the impact of an air raid, while the Minan drill is to build a systematic disaster prevention mechanism,” ministry spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS