The Ministry of National Defense and the US Seventh Fleet yesterday confirmed that the USS Mustin sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, while a Twitter page that frequently shares military movements said that a US Army Bombardier Challenger 650 passed through Taiwan’s eastern airspace.
On Saturday last week, the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and Japan’s JS Suzutsuki conducted joint drills in the East China Sea.
The Mustin sailed through the Strait from north to south and continued southward, the ministry said, while showing an image released by the US of the warship during its passage.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook
The US warship performed a general navigation mission through the Strait and Taiwan’s military, using joint intelligence and surveillance, monitored movements in nearby waters and airspace, it said.
The USS Ronald Reagan strike group on Friday last week entered the South China Sea, and on Saturday neared waters east of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙島).
The next day, a US Air Force B-1B bomber took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and at one point approached China’s air defense identification zone over the East China Sea.
The US Seventh Fleet said in a news release that the Mustin of the Yokosuka, Japan-based Destroyer Squadron 15 accompanied the Ronald Reagan strike group to the South China Sea for exercises and on Saturday continued to the East China Sea for drills with the Suzutsuki.
Against the backdrop of US-China military competition, drills by US warships in the western Pacific and South China Sea, and passage through the Taiwan Strait show Washington’s support and commitment to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and other friendly nations in the Indo-Pacific region, Defence International magazine senior editor Smith Chen (陳國銘) said.
However, even if the US military sailed Aegis-equipped destroyers down the Strait to show its commitment, Taiwan’s national defense must still rely on its own strength, Chen added.
The number of times that military aircraft from China’s People’s Liberation Army have entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone has also increased, Chen said.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that the “Callsign: CANUK78” Twitter account said that a US Army Bombardier Challenger 650 took off from Japan’s Kadena Air Base and passed through Taiwan’s eastern airspace, before turning back over the Bashi Channel and returning to Kadena.
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
‘OFFSHORE OPERATIONS’: Also in Dallas, Texas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs inaugurated its third Taiwan Trade and Investment Center to foster closer cooperation The 2025 Taiwan Expo USA opened on Thursday in Dallas, Texas, featuring 150 Taiwanese companies showcasing their latest technologies in the fields of drones, smart manufacturing and healthcare. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event’s organizer, said the exhibitors this year include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; AUO; PC brand Asustek Computer; and drone maker Thunder Tiger. In his opening speech, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said he expected Texas to become a world-class center for innovation and manufacturing as US technology companies from Silicon Valley and Taiwanese manufacturers form an industrial cluster
A 20-year-old man yesterday evening was electrocuted and fell to his death after he climbed a seven-story-high electricity tower to photograph the sunset, causing a wildfire on Datong Mountain (大同山) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), the Taoyuan Police Department said today. The man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was accompanied on an evening walk by a 20-year-old woman surnamed Shang (尚) who remained on the ground and witnessed the incident, capturing a final photograph of her friend sitting atop the tower before his death, an initial investigation showed. Shang then sought higher ground to call for help, police said. The New Taipei
RSS