China sent a surveillance ship and spy aircraft to waters and airspace near Taiwan’s to gather intelligence last week during missile and air defense drills at a military base in Pingtung County, Ministry of National Defense (MND) officials confirmed yesterday.
The officials said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used electronic surveillance to track missile testing at the highly restricted Jioupeng Military Base (九鵬基地) in southern Taiwan.
It came in the wake of reports that Chinese visitors were spying and taking photographs near the nation’s military bases and other sensitive facilities, some of whom were known to be PLA officers and agents posing as tourists.
The ministry monitored the Chinese ship and aircraft as they approached the nation during the two-day missile tests, it said in a statement yesterday.
“Our armed forces were fully aware of their activity and implemented countersurveillance and security measures,” the statement said. “We have surveillance systems for effective monitoring of the nation’s surrounding airspace and waters, and have contingency plans for the protection and security of our nation.”
The ministry was responding to a report published yesterday by the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) saying that the encroachment by Chinese spy vessels took place when Jioupeng Military Base was test-firing US-made MIM-104C (PAC-2) Patriot missiles on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien , Taipei Times
Quoting a source in the military, the report said a Chinese surveillance ship was picked up on radar on Wednesday morning about 60 nautical miles (111km) to the east of the base, which is in Pingtung’s mountainous region facing the Pacific Ocean.
On the next morning at the same time — when the Patriot missile system was scheduled for test firing — the radar station detected a Chinese spyplane approaching Taiwanese airspace.
After each detection, military officials immediately suspended the launch and shut down the system to prevent the Chinese vessels gathering intelligence, said the military source, who requested anonymity.
Photo: Hsu Shao-hsuan, Taipei Times
Ministry spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) confirmed the radar detections last week.
“Our armed forces reacted quickly with effective countermeasures and suspended the missile tests at those times, which prevented the Chinese PLA surveillance vessels from achieving their intelligence-gathering goals,” Lo said.
The military was holding live-fire and air defense exercises with its combined forces at the base in the final two weeks of last month, starting with tests of Taiwan’s domestic Tien Kung I (Sky Bow I, 天弓) and other short-range, surface-to-air missiles on May 21 and 22, officials said.
These drills were followed in the subsequent week by air defense drills and the test launches of Tien Chien II (天劍 Sky Sword II), Patriot PAC-2 and other guided surface-to-air missiles, they added.
The military yesterday showed off its latest domestically produced armored vehicle, the CM-34 Clouded Leopard, at a remote manufacturing site in the nation’s central mountains. Taiwan has been eager to demonstrate its resolve to defend itself should China ever attack. Those fears have become more pronounced over the past few years as Beijing has stepped up military activities near Taiwan. While Taiwan relies on the US for many of its weapons, such as fighter jets, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been pushing for a greater emphasis on Taiwanese-designed and made armaments, the most high profile of which is new submarines. The eight-wheeled CM-34,
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for disparaging Taiwan’s sovereignty by saying that Taiwan issues are “China’s internal affairs.” The ministry strongly condemned Putin’s “false” remarks that “undermined the sovereignty of the Republic of China,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing. Xinhua news agency cited Putin as telling Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a telephone call on Wednesday that Russia opposed any interference from external forces in China’s internal affairs, such as in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Ou said that Taiwanese elect their government in free and fair elections, adding that only the
‘DEMOCRATIC FISH’: Soichiro Hayashi said he wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year. Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said. His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said. Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan,
‘TROJAN HORSE’ SCHEME: The comment that a bridge would allow China’s PLA to easily launch an attack shows ‘a lack of backbone,’ Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門). Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday. He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport). He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in
RSS