King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch and leader of Taiwan’s only remaining African ally, Eswatini, yesterday became the first foreign leader to observe a portion of the annual Han Kuang military exercises.
Yesterday’s drills in Taichung were presided over by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and watched by the king.
Taiwan had invited other diplomatic allies to observe the military drills, but the attendees were mostly those nations’ representatives in Taiwan or military officers, said a government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Military units yesterday repelled a simulated invasion and employed civilian-operated aerial drones for the first time in the annual military exercise.
“Our armed forces’ combat effectiveness is the guarantee for our national security. It is the flourishing basis of society and the back-up force for our values of democracy and freedom,” Tsai said.
“As long as our armed forces are around, Taiwan will surely be around,” she added.
More than 4,000 personnel were deployed in the exercise, while drones flew overhead to provide battlefield surveillance and construction workers practiced repairing an airbase runway.
“Through the drills, our armed forces displayed their fighting capacity, which our ally was able to observe,” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said. “This is one way we hope to deepen dialogue on both sides.”
China has called on Eswatini to sever relations with Taiwan by September, when Beijing is to host a summit of African leaders.
Chen also said that Taiwan was eager to take part in a US-hosted naval drill, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC).
The Pentagon last month withdrew an invitation to China to this year’s RIMPAC in response to what it sees as Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea.
RIMPAC, billed as the world’s largest international maritime drill, is held every two years off the coast of Hawaii in June and July.
Tsai also expressed her condolences for the death of Major Wu Yen-ting (吳彥霆), who was killed on Monday when his F-16 crashed in New Taipei City while participating in the Han Kuang exercises.
“We are saddened by the loss of a young and exceptional pilot. His death is also a loss for the nation,” Tsai said.
“On behalf of Taiwan’s people, we pay our greatest respects to the military for the sacrifices they have made for the nation,” she added.
This year’s Han Kuang exercises end today.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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