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.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS