The Ministry of National Defense on Saturday declined to comment on the authenticity of an audio recording of an apparent confrontation between a Taiwanese navy vessel and a Chinese navy destroyer off eastern Taiwan.
In the recording, a person, allegedly an officer on the Chinese destroyer Xiamen, can be heard saying that there is no border of Taiwan’s contiguous zone during a radio exchange with the guided-missile destroyer ROCS Ma Kong.
The recording, posted on social media, was allegedly made by the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Lady Neeti, which was sailing nearby when the exchange took place.
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
In the recording, a man’s voice can be heard identifying his vessel as the Ma Kong and warning another ship that it is approaching the outer edge of the nation’s contiguous zone, 44.5km from the baseline.
Another man’s voice replies: “Xiamen to Ma Kong, the so-called ‘24 nautical-mile [44.5km] baseline’ does not exist. Please check your terminology. Our ship has the right to sail here. Please maintain a safe distance of at least 3 nautical miles.”
“This is Ma Kong. We are currently sailing on a course of 230°. Please adjust your course as appropriate,” the first voice is heard as saying, to which the second voice replies: “Xiamen copies.”
The ministry declined to go into details about its military deployments, saying only that it had taken appropriate response measures to all incursions by Chinese military vessels.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research analyst Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the best way to prepare Taiwanese mentally for Chinese military incursions is to make information about the incursions more transparent and accessible.
Since US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August, Chinese warships have routinely carried out incursions past the median line of the Taiwan Strait and sailed in the waters off Taiwan’s east coast in an attempt to create a new “status quo,” Su said.
Taiwan could learn from Japan’s model of issuing alerts whenever North Korea fires missiles toward it, he added.
Separately, the ministry said 10 Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line on Saturday.
They were among 36 Chinese aircraft detected near Taiwan that day, the ministry said, adding that three Chinese naval vessels had also been spotted in the area.
The ministry said that six Shenyang J-11 and four J-16 planes flew across the median line.
The military also spotted four Chengdu J-10 fighter jets, a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare plane, and three H-6 strategic bombers in Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone, the ministry said.
In addition, three Chinese uncrewed aerial vehicles — a Harbin BZK-005 high-altitude, long-range drone, a Guizhou BZK-007 and a CASC Rainbow CH-4 — were detected in the same area, it said.
The ministry said it scrambled combat air and naval patrols, and deployed defense missile systems to track the Chinese aircraft.
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
RSS