The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday said that it has been conducting drills in response to recent exercises by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) simulating a blockade of Taiwan and nearby maritime routes.
Recent reconnaissance drills and long-distance patrols by PLA aircraft and ships that passed through parts of the first island chain to the north and south of Taiwan were part of its anti-access and area-denial exercises to practice gaining control of Taiwan proper, the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel and the Miyako Strait, military experts said.
Major General Lin Wen-huang (林文皇), who is in charge of planning at the ministry, told a news conference that the espionage systems of Taiwan’s military have run analyses of potential invasion scenarios, including blockades.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
It has formulated strategies to counter blockades and convoys, and has conducted drills to enhance the military’s capabilities, Lin said.
Ministry spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) told the news conference that the armed forces have been closely monitoring the situation in and around the Taiwan Strait, and have run detailed analyses of the PLA’s combat readiness maneuvers, including its combat readiness patrols.
The ministry has insight into several possible PLA agendas, Sun said, but would not go into details.
The ministry would develop the armed forces’ capabilities to boost combat readiness, he said.
The military said that the nation’s Mirage 2000-5 fighters would remain in service after reports that defense officials were discussing whether to decommission the French-made jets due to their high operation and maintenance costs.
The Mirage fleet meets “availability” and “mission capable” requirements, Sun said, although he did not disclose what the rates were, citing confidentiality reasons.
The military is also awaiting delivery of 66 US-made F-16V jets to meet its air-defense needs, Sun said, reaffirming that the air force is capable of defending Taiwan’s air space with its existing fleet.
Some people have argued that the air force should decommission the French jets, because they have much higher hourly operating costs than F-16s and locally made Indigenous Defense Fighters, Chinese-language media reported.
Spare parts for the Mirage jets are also almost impossible to find, the reports said.
Taiwan purchased 60 Mirage 2000-5s from France in the 1990s and they entered service in 1997.
There have been eight incidents in Taiwan, including six crashes that killed five pilots, involving the jets, with the most recent in March last year.
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