Taiwan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for a defense agreement with Macedonia, establishing for the first time official military cooperation with a European country.
The agreement was signed by Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a statement that the military cooperation between Taiwan and Macedonia is believed by the two sides to be helpful for the enhancement of bilateral diplomatic relations.
Neither Wu nor Paunoski made public speeches either during or after the signing ceremony, which took place yesterday evening at the defense ministry.
The signing of the defense accord with Macedonia, the first with a European country, is highly valued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which arranged Paunoski's visit to Taiwan.
However, the military held a different view. Asked to comment on the matter, most of the military officials contacted by the Taipei Times said they did not expect the military cooperation with Macedonia to be of any substantial help to Taiwan in the foreseeable future.
At yesterday's signing ceremony, Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) did not even attend, instead sending his deputy, General Wang Han-ning (王漢寧).
Paunoski did not, however, share the view that Macedonia would be of little help to Taiwan militarily.
Paunoski said he believes the military cooperation will be beneficial to both sides and that Macedonia's policy priorities are now on infrastructure reconstruction, education and arms build-up.
"It is a win-win situation for Taiwan and Macedonia to establish diplomatic ties," Paunoski said yesterday.
Under the agreement, Paunoski said, Macedonia can help Taiwan expand its military exchanges with other European countries.
But with or without assistance by Macedonia, Taiwan has already established military links with some European countries, as evidenced by the sending of retired generals, rather than career diplomats, to head Taiwan's representative offices in those countries.
"How can Macedonia be of any military help to Taiwan? Can we expect them to send troops to Taiwan in the event of a war in the Taiwan Strait?" a defense official said. "Although Macedonia can help Taiwan get closer to NATO countries, it goes a little too far to think Taiwan will come under the umbrella of NATO protection in the future," the official said.
"It is true that NATO had declared during its Kosovo operation last year that in the future, its task enforcement area will not be limited to Europe. But do not forget that it also said its priority concern will still be Europe," he said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most