Taiwan’s air force showed off its armed-to-the-teeth submarine hunters and early warning and control aircraft on Tuesday, demonstrating how it keeps watch on the skies and waters around the Chinese-claimed island.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past four years regularly sent warplanes and warships into the skies and waters around the island as it seeks to assert sovereignty claims that the government in Taipei rejects.
Taiwan’s air force, dwarfed by China’s but well-armed with mostly U.S. equipment, has been at the front lines of responding to these missions and regularly scrambles to shadow and warn away Chinese aircraft and ships.
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
On a defence ministry-organised media visit to the Pingtung air base in southern Taiwan, the air force displayed its Lockheed Martin P-3C Orion anti-submarine aircraft and Northrop Grumman-built E-2K Hawkeye early warning and control aircraft.
Crews demonstrated attaching missiles under the wing of an Orion, which can be armed with torpedoes, depth charges and U.S.-made Maverick air-to-ground missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
"We uphold the concept of integrating training for war under the guidance of the defence ministry. We are doing very solid training, which is enough to cope with various situations," said training officer Tsai Tsung-yu.
Photo: Reuters
Taiwan operates 12 Orions, which the U.S. government approved the sale of in 2007 for almost $2 billion. The first aircraft, surplus U.S. Navy stock, entered service with Taiwan in 2013 and can stay airborne for up to 12 hours.
The air force also conducted flybys with one of their E-2K Hawkeye aircraft. Taiwan has six of the planes, but one was damaged in 2022 during a landing accident and is still being repaired.
They have long-range detection abilities, allowing them to direct intercepts from the air and track low-altitude targets flying below the range of ground-based radars.
Photo: Reuters
Their Pingtung base gives the aircraft easy access not only to the Taiwan Strait but also to the Bashi Channel.
That strategic waterway separates Taiwan from the Philippines and connects the South China Sea with the Pacific. Taiwan has reported Chinese warships and warplanes frequently passing through the Bashi Channel.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition