The military would be prepared for war if it was forced to counter a “first strike” by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday at the legislature.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Chi-chen (江啟臣) asked Chiu to elaborate on a comment he made on Tuesday that incursions by the PLA’s uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) into Taiwan’s territorial airspace would now be considered a “first strike,” necessitating countermeasures.
Chiang specifically asked what those countermeasures would be.
Photo: CNA
The military would first lock onto intruding UAVs as a warning, which if not heeded would prompt a defensive “counterattack,” Chiu said.
Asked by Chiang whether the counterattack would be aimed at repelling intruding PLA aircraft or preventing a “second strike,” Chiu said: “I don’t see it that way. After the first strike, we will be ready to respond to further attacks.”
Chiang asked whether launching a counterattack against a first strike would mean the two sides were “going to war.”
“Yes, in which case the situation would be very serious,” Chiu said. “This is why the military has been exercising self-restraint and does not pull the trigger recklessly.”
Chiu said during a legislative interpellation session on Wednesday last week that if the PLA flew aircraft into Taiwan’s territorial airspace it would be deemed a first strike, prompting the military to launch “countermeasures.”
On Tuesday, he said that in the past, a first strike was defined as an artillery attack, but since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been changing its tactics by increasing the frequency of its drone incursions into Taiwan’s territorial airspace, causing “a lot of trouble,” such incursions would now also be defined as a first strike.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS