The nation's armed forces have been placed on a "heightened state of preparedness" just in case China decides to take advantage of the US' preoccupation with the bombing of Afghanistan.
Though the chances are remote that China would use the conflict in Central Asia to attack Taiwan, the air force and navy have been asked to remain on guard.
PHOTO: YU TAI-LANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (
He told the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of the Legislative Yuan that the US has promised Taiwan more than once that it will not sacrifice the nation's security.
Tien noted that the highest-priority task of the US is its war against terrorism and added that the cross-Taiwan Strait issue is not an urgent matter for Washington at the moment.
The foreign minister pointed out that the US government has guaranteed Taipei that it will not alter its strategy toward the Asia-Pacific area.
According to the Ministry of National Defense, special service forces -- including the military police, army airborne troops and marines -- have also been instructed to be on guard for any potential attack against major military and civilian airports and naval ports.
Despite the heightened state of preparedness, the defense ministry said that the official alertness level remains "normal."
"The only difference is that leaders of military units at all levels must stay in camp, and that the ratio of personnel on leave in a unit must be reduced," the ministry said.
There are three alertness levels in the military: normal alert, intensified alert and ready-for-engagement alert.
According to past practices, if the leaders of all military units are required to stay at camp, the official level of alert would be raised to "intensified alert," an army official said.
"The military has now [appeared to have] changed its definition for the three levels of alert. But no matter what kind of change it has made, the current level of preparedness ... is certainly higher than normal," the official said.
The armed forces are mainly charged with protecting the nation against a potential attack from China, but also guard against any domestic insurgency, the defense ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (
A military spokesman said the defense ministry would have no problem complying with Chen's directive.
"If the rules are followed, we do not foresee any problem that we should be concerned about," said Major General Huang Shui-sheng (
The rules Huang referred to include an advance notification from the US or its allies of their intent to fly fighter planes through Taiwan's airspace.
Taiwan allowed two US fighter planes to pass through the nation's air space in April after a Chinese air force jet collided with a US EP-3 spy plane over the South China Sea.
The two US fighter planes, identified as F-14s, were on their way to rescue the EP-3 as they flew over Pingtung, southern Taiwan, according to a defense official.
They were later instructed by the US to abort the mission and return to their base in Japan, he said.
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