The US has maintained a signals intelligence (SIGINT) facility on Yangmingshan in suburban Taipei in a highly secret security cooperation program with the island, it was learned yesterday.
The SIGINT system provides Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) with information vital to ensuring its security against military threats from China, Janes Defense Weekly says in a report to be published next week.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMESN
The information sharing also gives the US National Security Agency (NSA) some access to Chinese military communications in Nanjing and Guangzhou military regions, the magazine says.
NSB and Taiwan's defense ministry declined to comment on the report. But the United Daily News said yesterday that the intelligence cooperation between Taiwan and the US in monitoring Chinese military radio communications had been successful and would be expanded.
The Yangminshan facility is able to intercept radio communications within 500km, the paper said.
The base provides the security agencies with an indications and warnings system to counter any efforts by China to launch a surprise attack against Taiwan, according to the report.
The activities of China's strategic nuclear force, the Second Artillery Corps, are of special interest as they could unleash up to 400 Dong Feng-11 (M-11) and DF-15 (M-9) tactical ballistic missiles in multiple-wave and multi-directional saturation attacks, it says.
The base has 10 antenna masts, of which six are high-frequency (HF) dipole antennas formed in a circular configuration known as a "Fix-6" or "6 Element" composition that serves both interception and direction-finding (DF) roles, it says.
This type of HF-DF antenna formation allows Taipei and Washington to intercept Chinese military radio communications and a large complex of 17 satellite dishes near the HF antenna facility allows data to be up-linked to the NSA, according to the report.
The base, established in the mid-1980s, underscores the close relationship between the two security agencies, despite the lack of official ties between the countries.
After Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, most US intelligence and military operations on the island were either turned over to the Taiwanese government or became covert enterprises, it says.
The Taiwan base, which replaces the SIGINT station previously located in Hong Kong's New Territories, links Taipei with a network of HF SIGINT operations that include six stations in Japan and one in Thailand, the report says.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS