The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday.
The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source said.
Photo: The Ministry of National Defense via EPA-EFE
According to international maritime rules, coastal states may claim a territorial sea that extends up to 12 nautical miles from their shoreline. A nation’s contiguous zone is an area that is adjacent to the territorial sea and extends 24 nautical miles from the coastline.
The littoral combatant command would be responsible for integrating maritime surveillance, strike and communication capabilities, as well as mobile coastal units, the Naval Command Headquarters said.
The plan is still being discussed and evaluated, the navy said.
Three defense academics said that the new command would benefit the military’s reforms and overall defense.
As the proposed command would be responsible for defending Taiwan within 24 nautical miles of its coastline, it would have separate responsibilities from the Naval Fleet Command, which would likely oversee the defense of seas further away from Taiwan’s shoreline, said Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at Taiwan’s state-run Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
He applauded what he called the structural reform of the navy.
Academic and retired navy captain Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓) said that once established, the new command would likely use smaller and lighter missile boats and corvettes, as well as coastal anti-ship missiles.
The navy’s main larger combat vessels would then be tasked with defending the seas around Taiwan, further away from the coast, he said.
That would mean the new command would share the responsibility of defending the country with the main combat ships and Naval Fleet Command, he added.
However, many other combat commands from other military branches, including the air force and army, are also responsible for defending areas within 24 nautical miles of the coastline, said Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Taipei-based Association of Strategic Foresight.
Another new command could further complicate the command structure of the nation’s armed forces in the event of a war, Chieh said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS