Lawmakers yesterday expressed their support for a bill proposed in the US Congress to include Taiwan in the NATO-plus-five framework.
The proposed “Taiwan PLUS Act” was introduced in the US House of Representatives on March 19 and has since been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Voice of America’s Chinese-language service reported on Tuesday.
The bill says that support for defense cooperation with Taiwan is critical to US national security and urges that Taiwan be included in the NATO framework including Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
“Taiwan has become an important partner to other democratic nations at a time when China is aggressively pushing to expand its territory,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said yesterday. “The US including Taiwan in the framework would be proof to the world that Taiwan is an independent nation.”
“Many nations have said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait is not just Taiwan’s problem. Taiwan must continue to enhance its military capabilities, and cooperate more with the US, and other friendly nations in the region,” Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) said.
Taiwan has since 2003 been treated as a major non-NATO ally, although it is not formally designated as such, the bill says.
The status of a major US ally outside the treaty makes a country eligible for a range of defense-related privileges, but does not entail any additional security commitments.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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