The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned rumors, believed to have originated from China, alleging that a missing Taiwanese F-16 jet and its pilot had defected to China.
The F-16, piloted by Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), disappeared from radar at 6:07pm on Tuesday, two minutes after taking off from Hualien Air Base, as the search for the missing jet continued yesterday, the ministry said.
The jet disappeared over waters just off the coast of Hualien County, it said.
Photo: CNA
Soon after the incident, comments online claimed that the jet and its pilot had defected to China, landing at Xiamen Airport in China’s Fujian Province.
“Extra! An F-16 has landed at Xiamen Airport,” a user wrote on the Chinese microblogging Web site Sina Weibo, with a photograph of an F-16.
“Stop searching now. It is at Xiamen air base,” another user wrote on Twitter.
The ministry said that there was no such evidence to support the claims, attributing them to Internet sources backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“The rumors spread by the CCP’s Internet army are despicable. We have debunked these self-deceiving and narcissistic rumors,” Ministry of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said yesterday.
“Mrs Chiang also heard the rumors, and she was furious,” Yen said, adding that the pilot’s wife described her husband as a hero and said she was proud of him.
Spreading rumors only ignites a sense of patriotism and a will to fight among Taiwanese soldiers, Yen said.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) called the rumors “absurd and inhumane.”
A military source said it would be extremely difficult for a Chinese or Taiwanese plane to defect to the other side due to the use of advanced radar systems.
Taiwan’s air force would intercept such unplanned movements, as would China, the source said.
The F-16 also took off from eastern Taiwan, which is farther from China, and it was accompanied by other planes during the training mission, the source said.
The military has detected the source of nine signals in the area where the plane might have crashed, which it has given to a salvage ship commissioned by the ministry to investigate, Yen said.
The military said it believed the signals originated from parts of the aircraft.
The salvage ship on Thursday completed an initial investigation of seven signal sources and was to cover the remaining two yesterday, Yen said.
Experts are to analyze the signals to confirm which ones, if any, are from the plane before starting an underwater search, he said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source