The US National Guard is planning to cooperate with the Taiwanese military, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, a day after China made its second-largest incursion into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) this year.
Meeting visiting US Senator Tammy Duckworth at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Tsai said the lawmaker was one of the main sponsors of the Taiwan partnership act, which had received bipartisan support in the US Congress, although it has yet to become law.
“As a result, the US Department of Defense is now proactively planning cooperation between the US National Guard and Taiwan’s defense forces,” Tsai said, without giving details.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
Media reports have previously said that Taiwan could partner with Hawaii’s National Guard for the program.
“We look forward to closer and deeper Taiwan-US cooperation on matters of regional security,” Tsai added.
Duckworth said she was visiting to reiterate that the US stands with Taiwan, which enjoys “tremendous” support from US lawmakers.
Speaking later with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Duckworth said she had brought with her the director of the US National Guard’s State Partnership Program, “which will be working with you on setting up your all-out defense.”
She did not elaborate.
The State Partnership Program pairs US National Guard units with other countries to help with training and interoperability.
Their meeting came a day after China made its second-largest incursion into Taiwan’s ADIZ this year, with Taipei reporting 30 Chinese military aircraft entering the area, including more than 20 fighter jets.
The Ministry of National Defense late on Monday said that it had scrambled aircraft and deployed air-defense missile systems to monitor the latest Chinese activity.
Beijing has in recent years begun sending large sorties into Taiwan’s ADIZ to signal dissatisfaction, and to keep Taipei’s aging fighter fleet regularly stressed.
The US last week accused the Chinese government of raising tensions over Taiwan, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken specifically mentioning aircraft incursions as an example of “increasingly provocative rhetoric and activity.”
Beijing last week said that it had recently conducted an exercise around Taiwan as a “solemn warning” against “collusion” with the US.
Monday’s incursion was the largest since Jan. 23, when 39 Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s ADIZ.
A flight map provided by the ministry showed the military aircraft entering the southwestern corner of the ADIZ before looping back out again.
Last year, Taiwan recorded 969 incursions by Chinese warplanes into its ADIZ, according to an Agence France-Presse database — more than double the roughly 380 carried out in 2020.
The highest number of aircraft that China has sent in a single day was 56 on Oct. 4 last year. That month saw a record 196 incursions, mostly around China’s annual national day celebrations.
So far this year, Taiwan has reported 465 incursions, a near 50 percent increase over the same period last year.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
RSS