Academics and analysts called on the government to improve US-Taiwan military ties, after Washington on Wednesday disinvited China from joint military exercise to be held this summer in the Pacific.
The Rim of the Pacific Exercise is overseen by the US Pacific Fleet in June and July every two years. China was part of the exercises in 2014 and 2016.
The US decision to rescind the invitation is likely to have been prompted by long-term strategic considerations and not by any particular recent developments, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen (董立文) said on Saturday.
Following the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, the US and China instituted military exchanges to manage tensions and reduce friction, he said.
It is likely that US President Donald Trump, after reviewing the instruments of the US-China relationship, has grown dissatisfied with the military exchanges, which have failed to produce tangible gains and are arguably harmful to US national interest, he said.
The main reasons for Trump’s decision might involve Beijing’s increasing strategic hostility toward the US and the ineffectiveness of the US-China Memorandum of Understanding on the Rules of Behavior for the Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters, he said.
The US is sending a message to protest Beijing’s saber rattling, National Taiwan University associate professor of political science Chen Shih-min (陳世民) said.
Chinese air patrols in the South China Sea have heightened regional tensions and challenged the US’ policy of upholding non-militarization and freedom of navigation in the maritime zone, he said.
Asked whether Taiwan should lobby to be included in the exercises, Chen said that such actions would likely prompt strong protests from China, which the US would want to avoid.
Instead, the government should focus on improving the bilateral relationship by exchanging high-level defense officials and holding bilateral joint military exercises, he said.
China’s aggressive show of force in the East and South China seas and the Taiwan Strait has likely dissuaded the US from inviting it to participate in an exercise that is reserved for friends and allies, said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who is on the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Two US Air Force B-52 bombers were last month sent close to the coast Guangdong Province, showing that the US is not willing to give China free rein in threatening regional peace, Wang said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
RSS