The passage of a US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft through the Taiwan Strait on Friday was aimed at countering China’s claims to the waterway and its “systematic expansion” in the region, local military experts said.
The flight of the maritime patrol reconnaissance plane was a response to China’s assertion that the Taiwan Strait is not international waters, Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.
It was also aimed at countering the expansion of China’s military presence in the region, for example its aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and warships sailing through waters claimed by China and other countries in the South China Sea, Su said.
Photo: AP
Chinese and Russian naval vessels were also navigating Japan’s territorial waters, he added.
The US aircraft’s transit came after 29 Chinese military planes entered Taiwan’s ADIZ on Tuesday, the third-highest single-day total this year, and after Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a news conference that the Taiwan Strait fell within China’s territorial waters.
The US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the transit “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” CNN reported on Friday.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows, including within the Taiwan Strait,” the statement read. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.”
The US’ rare move was apparently meant to counteract the harassment of Japan by Chinese and Russian ships, Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Shu Hsiao-huang (舒孝煌) said.
The Ministry of National Defense said that it has a full grasp of China’s military activity and has contingency measures in place to safeguard national security.
People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command spokesman Colonel Shi Yi (施毅) criticized the US for “endangering the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” by flying the aircraft and publicizing the move.
The Eastern Theater Command had organized air and ground forces to monitor the US aircraft’s entire operation, he said.
China has stepped up its military activities near Taiwan in the past few years in response to what it sees as closer ties between Washington and Taipei.
The Democratic Progressive Party has accused Beijing of continuing to use military, diplomatic and economic means to intimidate Taiwan and neighboring countries in the Indo-Pacific region, heightening regional tensions and making no efforts to break the deadlock between the two sides.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
RSS