The military is ready to counter “any actions that threaten national sovereignty,” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said yesterday in response to China’s announcement of military drills near Taiwan.
The Chinese military on Tuesday announced it would hold air and sea live-fire exercises in six locations off Taiwan proper from noon today until noon on Sunday.
The drills would be in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan this week, which China said breached the “one China” principle — a claim that the US has denied.
Photo: CNA
The drills would be “an irrational action that challenges the international order, undermines the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and endangers regional security,” Sun said.
Commenting on Taiwan’s capacity to respond to the drills, Sun said that the military branches are coordinating on surveillance and have a full grasp on everything occurring within Taiwan’s territorial waters and airspace.
“We prepare for war, but we do not seek it. We will not irrationally escalate conflicts, but we will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and national security,” he said.
Photo: Chen Shin-yu, Taipei Times
Beijing’s tendency to resolve differences by force would only result in regional instability, damage cross-strait relations and harm China’s international image, he said.
Asked whether the military was on heightened alert and whether officers would be asked to refrain from taking leave, Sun said that the military followed an annual training plan and would not implement any special measures.
Ministry official Yu Chian-chang (于健昌) said that the planned drills were “like a sea and air blockade of Taiwan, which seriously violates our territorial waters and territorial sovereignty, and seriously violates the UN Convention on the [Law of the] Sea and other relevant regulations.”
Photo: Reuters
Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the government was maintaining close communication with the US and other regional partners to avoid escalation, and maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.
The foreign ministry said that China’s request that vessels and aircraft from other countries avoid the areas where it is planning to hold drills “seriously affected international economic and trade exchanges, and the international rules-based order.”
The foreign ministry reiterated that “the Republic of China [ROC] is a sovereign and independent country,” and that “the ROC and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other.”
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said that Taiwan is negotiating with Japan and the Philippines to find alternative aviation routes.
There is no need for Taiwan to find alternative routes for sea transportation because ships can avoid Chinese drill zones, it said.
China yesterday said the drills in the Taiwan Strait were “necessary and just” in the wake of Pelosi’s visit.
“The Chinese military’s conducting of military exercises in the sea near ‘China’s’ Taiwan are a necessary and just measure to resolutely protect national sovereignty,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) told a regular news briefing.
“In the current struggle surrounding Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the United States are the provocateurs, China is the victim. The joint provocation by the US and Taiwan came first, China’s just defense came after,” Hua said.
Additional reporting by AFP and Reuters
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS