The military has not seen any indication that the US plans to stage a drill in the South China Sea in the near future, as has been suggested by CNN, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said yesterday.
Fielding questions from legislators during a hearing, Yen said the nation’s armed forces have closely monitored the regional situation, but have not seen anything to suggest that the US could soon hold an exercise in the disputed waters.
CNN on Oct. 4 reported that the US was planning to conduct freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea later this month, with a proposal being circulated calling for several missions to take place.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) asked if the movement of a US aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait was related to that.
He said the USS John C. Stennis was yesterday sailing toward the US Seventh Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan, and asked Yen if it would be joining another aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, for a drill in the South China Sea.
The US does not inform Taiwan of its upcoming military deployments in advance, Yen said, adding that Taiwan’s military has not seen anything to suggest that a military exercise would take place.
Taiwan’s military fully respects the freedom of navigation principles being defended by the US, he added.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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