Military tensions with China are at their worst in more than 40 years, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday, days after record numbers of incursions by Chinese aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
Tensions have hit a new high between Taipei and Beijing, and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft have repeatedly flown through Taiwan’s ADIZ.
Over a four-day period beginning on Friday, Taiwan said that nearly 150 PLA military aircraft entered its ADIZ, part of a pattern of what Taipei calls Beijing’s continued harassment of the nation.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) asked Chiu about current military tensions with China and whether he agreed with a May report in The Economist, which said that Taiwan is the “most dangerous place on Earth.”
That is just the opinion of the foreign media, but the situation is the “most serious” in the more than 40 years since he joined the military, Chiu said.
“For me as a military man, the urgency is right in front of me,” he said.
China has the ability to invade Taiwan and its military would have the capability of mounting a “full scale” invasion by 2025, Chiu added.
“By 2025, China will bring the cost and attrition to its lowest. It has the capacity now, but it will not start a war easily, having to take many other things into consideration,” he told the committee which, with the legislature’s Finance Committee, is reviewing a special military purchase act of NT$240 billion (US$8.6 billion) for indigenous weapons, including missiles and warships.
In response to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin’s (林楚茵) queries about the guiding principle behind Taiwan’s military reactions, Chiu said: “Our military holds to the principle that we will not fire the first shot.”
Taiwanese pilots are under great duress because of this policy, he said, adding that he has visited air bases multiple times to encourage the pilots and told officers that they need to interact more with their troops.
A source has said on condition of anonymity that the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee has arranged two classified visits for its members: one to the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to tour its manufacturing facility and another to the Hai Feng Brigade to inspect missiles.
The military had placed the Hsiung Sheng missile on public display and it was the first time that the legislators had seen it, the source said.
The lawmakers’ confidence in Taiwan’s defensive capabilities grew after learning that the Hsiung Feng IIE (Brave Wind) has a range of 600km, while the Hsiung Sheng cruise missile has a range of more than 1,000km, the source added.
The purchase act is likely to include the purchase of more than 100 Hsiung Sheng missiles, which would greatly augment Taiwan’s ability to deter China, the source said.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
RSS