A ship suspected of being a Chinese military vessel was spotted near Penghu as the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it detected 30 sorties of Chinese military aircraft and eight ships operating around Taiwan in the past 24 hours up to 6am today.
Fishermen in Penghu yesterday reported seeing a Chinese warship moving westward away from the island, confirming reports that China continues to harass the waters surrounding Taiwan and Penghu’s strategic importance.
Photo provided by a reader
At 4pm, the eyewitnesses said, they were fishing near the median line of the Taiwan Strait when they saw the ship appear, which they said was not being tracked by Coast Guard Administration (CGA) or naval vessels.
The ship is suspected to be the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy's (PLAN) Wenzhou (溫州) No. 526, a Type 054 frigate, which can attack targets, such as submarines, on its own or as part of a larger group and has long-range radar capabilities.
It was launched in Nov. 2003, commissioned in Sep. 2005 and now serves in the East China Sea.
Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiu Chun-jung (邱俊榮) later confirmed that the navy has been monitoring the situation and is prepared for any potential incidents.
The ship cruised along the median line but did not enter Penghu’s waters, the military said, adding that the CGA’s Lienchiang (連江) and the navy’s Ma Kung (馬公) are monitoring the area and remain on standby.
Meanwhile, 23 of the 30 Chinese sorties crossed the median line, entering Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from the north, southwest and east, while three of them were helicopters intruding into Taiwan’s northern ADIZ, in addition to eight vessels operating in the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said.
This is the second day in a row that more than 30 incursions were detected around Taiwan.
The armed forces would continue to use ships, aircraft and shore-based defense systems to monitor and defend the country from incursions, the ministry said.
MND spokesperson Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) said there is no need to elaborate on who the “troublemaker” is.
The ministry said China’s military activities around Taiwan have become more frequent as it has returned to routine training and preparation after the Lunar New Year.
Regional peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait concerns not only Taiwan but all free and democratic countries, and is also an issue concerning global security and economic development, Sun said.
Nations that are friendly to Taiwan should have freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait, he said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS