NATIONAL DEFENSE
China focuses on spying
China is boosting and diversifying its efforts to penetrate the military as exchanges across the Taiwan Strait increase, Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) said yesterday in a call for the military to heighten its guard against spies. As seen by the number of espionage cases exposed in recent years, Beijing has stepped up its intelligence collection on Taiwan’s armed forces, posing a serious threat to the overall security of the military, Yen said at a military promotion ceremony. Besides improving internal management and boosting the awareness of confidentiality among active personnel, there is a need to increase awareness among retired personnel and their families, he said. He said China’s continued buildup and territorial disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea are having a tremendous impact on regional stability, stressing that Taiwan must establish a streamlined, but capable defense force in the face of the military threat.
MILITARY
Ma touts transition progress
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday praised the development of military recruitment this year amid the armed forces’ shift to an all-volunteer force, noting that the number of new recruits exceeded the target for the year. Speaking at a ceremony held for officer promotions, Ma said that the military has selected about 14,000 new recruits, beating by 35 percent the goal of 10,500 volunteers. More than 30,000 people have applied to join the military, he said. More soldiers due to finish their service have also chosen to stay on instead of being discharged, he said. Ma said 59 percent of service men and women had agreed to stay on, up 13 percent from the previous two years. Ma also said that more women have enlisted. There are now 16,000 servicewomen in the nation’s military, representing 10.51 percent of all military personnel, a record high, he said. In a bid to transition to an all-volunteer force, the military has rolled out a series of incentives for career soldiers such as increasing pay and offering opportunities for further studies while serving.
AVIATION
Cross-strait flights agreed
Taiwan and China have reached an agreement to allow an unlimited number of additional cross-strait flights to accommodate Lunar New Year holiday travel next year, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday. From Feb. 5 to March 5, airlines can offer as many flights as they like to any destination in China except for busy airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, the CAA said. In those five cities, the number of extra flights will be restricted to 304 for each side. A total of 165 extra flights were approved for each side to Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, compared with only 105 during the Lunar New Year holiday this year. Also, no additional flights will operate between Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), the CAA said. The extra flights would be added to the 840 scheduled cross-strait flights each week, the CAA said. Last year it was announced that Taiwan and China had agreed to raise the number of regular cross-strait flights from 558 to 616, allowing each nation to dispatch 308 cross-strait flights per week. Direct flights between the two nations only began again in 2008, when President Ma Ying-jeou came to power.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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