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.
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
Measures have been taken to minimize damage from Chinese espionage, the Ministry of National Defense said on Monday, in response to an alleged plan to deliver a Chinook helicopter to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese-language CTWANT magazine earlier in the day reported that a lieutenant colonel surnamed Hsieh (謝) was approached by Chinese officers with an offer to evacuate his family to Thailand in the event of a cross-strait conflict. In exchange, Hsieh was asked to fly a CH-47F Chinook helicopter to a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Taiwan Strait, the magazine said. Hsieh initially declined, but accepted after he was
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
RSS