The nation’s military fully complies with international rules and guidelines when responding to Chinese military drills, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, vowing to continue defending Taiwan in accordance with international law.
China on Thursday launched four days of military drills around Taiwan proper in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
The drills were expected to end on Sunday, but neither Beijing nor Taipei confirmed their conclusion, although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it had seen some evidence suggesting at least a partial drawdown.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
However, China yesterday said the drills would continue, saying “the eastern theater of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army [PLA] continued to carry out practical joint exercises and training in the sea and airspace around Taiwan island.”
The exercises, the PLA’s Eastern Command said, were “focusing on organizing joint anti-submarine and sea assault operations.”
Beijing also carried out live-fire drills yesterday in parts of the South China Sea and Yellow Sea.
The Taiwanese defense ministry on Sunday said it detected 66 aircraft and 14 warships conducting naval and air exercises.
Taiwan has responded by putting its military on alert and deploying ships, planes and other assets to monitor Chinese aircraft, ships and drones that are “simulating attacks on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea,” as well as crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
Although not an internationally recognized delineation, the median line has been tacitly accepted by both sides since the 1950s, Shen Shih-wei (沈世偉), head of the ministry’s Judicial Department, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Its existence is evident, but China’s creation of a restricted zone across the line challenges this nearly 70-year-old fact, he said.
The restricted zone constricts Taiwan’s training airspace, potentially affecting the normal operation of international air and waterways, Shen said.
This kind of targeted intimidation is contrary to Article 2, Section 4 of the UN Charter, which states: “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations,” Shen said.
Asked how the military monitors Chinese actions, Lieutenant General Yan Yu-hsien (顏有賢), Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence, said it uses joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods.
For instance, when a Chinese aircraft or ship crosses the median line, the military — aside from broadcasting a warning — also communicates with warplanes and missile tracking systems to gain a thorough understanding of the situation, Yan said.
Warfare has changed dramatically in the Internet age, said Major General Chen Yu-lin (陳育琳), deputy director of the Political Warfare Bureau.
Disrupting the civilian Internet, cyberattacks would deepen the confrontation and potentially mean the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield, she said.
China began cognitive warfare operations before the military drills, posting 272 messages from Monday last week to yesterday that were disseminated widely, ministry data showed.
The messages can be categorized into three types: creating a sense of unification by force, destroying trust in the government and disrupting morale, it said.
Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo (蔣正國) told reporters that China spread misinformation during the exercises.
It falsely claimed that its warships encroached on Taiwan’s territorial contiguous zone, but the navy confirmed that no PLA ships entered the nation’s territory, he said.
A country’s contiguous territorial zone extends for 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from its coast, while territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles. The military has not officially said whether PLA warships entered the nation’s contiguous zone.
Additional reporting by AP and AFP
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
RSS