The air force is no longer scrambling each time Chinese aircraft encroach on its air defense identification zone, but tracks the intruders with ground-based missiles instead to help save resources, a senior official said yesterday.
The air force has repeatedly scrambled to intercept Chinese jets in the past few months, and the US in July last year approved a possible US$620 million upgrade package for Patriot surface-to-air missiles to Taiwan.
Yesterday, 10 Chinese military aircraft, including fighter jets, entered the southwest corner of the zone, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that it used missiles to “monitor” the incursion and its planes warned the Chinese aircraft over the radio.
Twenty Chinese military aircraft entered the zone on Friday last week, in the largest incursion yet reported by the ministry.
Although they have not flown over Taiwan itself, the flights have ramped up pressure, both financial and physical, on the air force to ensure its aircraft are ready to go at any moment in what security officials describe as a “war of attrition.”
Speaking at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Deputy Minister of National Defense Chang Che-ping (張哲平) said that initially fighter jets were sent out each time to intercept the Chinese aircraft, whose missions are concentrated in the southeastern part of the zone.
As that took up valuable time and resources, that strategy was changed, with Taiwan sending slower aircraft up if China did too, but that has also changed, Chang added.
“So we now largely use land-based missile forces to track them. We are considering the war of attrition issue,” he said.
The ministry has spoken of the repeated missions, along with its aircraft being “middle-aged,” leading to a huge increase in maintenance costs not originally budgeted for.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach