China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is to conduct a live-fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait from 8am to midnight on Wednesday next week, the Global Times newspaper reported yesterday, warning that ships should avoid the exercise zone.
The tabloid, owned by Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said the exercise is to take place in a zone 20km from the coast of Quanzhou Bay (泉州灣) in Fujian Province. That would place it about 40km from Kinmen, the Global Times said.
News of China’s planned exercise came amid other military drills by Taiwan and the US.
Photo: Screen grab from Global Times’ Web site
The Ministry of National Defense is holding a large-scale naval exercise from its base in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳), which President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is scheduled to attend.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday presided over the PLA Navy’s largest-ever military display from aboard the destroyer Changsha in an unspecified location in the South China Sea, Chinese state media reported.
The procession involved more than 10,000 naval personnel, 76 fighter jets and a flotilla of 48 warships and submarines, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning, they said.
Xi told the assembled troops that China’s need for a world-leading naval force “has never been more pressing than today” and urged them to devote their unswerving loyalty to the party, reports said.
A US Navy carrier strike group led by the Nimitz-class USS Theodore Roosevelt has been conducting an exercise in the South China Sea since Friday last week.
Ministry spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said the military is monitoring the area and is prepared to respond to any situation that might arise during the Chinese exercise.
China conducted live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait near Kinmen in July and September 2015, which coincided with the defense ministry’s 31st Han Kuang exercises off Kinmen.
China Coast Guard gunboats and land-based artillery batteries took part in the 2015 drills, with the gunboats joining the July exercise and the land batteries the September one.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS