Aerial photographs of Hualien Air Base that appeared in a video posted on Chinese social media were digitally composed images and not taken by a drone that flew over the base, Minister of Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
The images appeared on Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English) on Wednesday last week, a day after President William Lai’s (賴清德) first anniversary in office. The photographs appeared to be aerial shots taken by a drone, raising concerns of an undetected intrusion into Taiwan’s air space.
A video posted with the images used graphics to identify structures on the air base, such as barracks and hangars, and also showed general distances and other features.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Speaking to the media before attending a legislative committee meeting, Koo downplayed the images, saying that an internal analysis found they were created using 3D compositing techniques and were not captured by a drone filming the military base.
During the legislative session, lawmakers asked Koo if the video was part of a Chinese Communist Party cognitive warfare campaign. He said it did contain certain elements to suggest it was.
The military’s political warfare and public communications units need to respond swiftly and assertively to counter such actions, he said.
Although the air force said there was no drone intrusion into the airspace around Hualien Air Base, Air Force Chief of Staff Lee Ching-jan (李慶然) said that they could be difficult to detect, especially given that Taiwan had not yet completed the installation of anti-drone systems.
Asked by legislators if the military is capable of visually detecting drones, Lee said that visual detection was extremely difficult at higher altitudes and against complex backgrounds, and made even more difficult given that most drones are relatively small.
The construction of active and passive defense systems began in 2022, and parts of the bases where the systems would be located have been established, he said.
Once all facilities are fully equipped, “any drone intrusions will definitely be detected,” he said, without specifying when the anti-drone systems would be completed and fully activated.
Regarding the progress of the army’s procurement of 26 sets of anti-drone systems, Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chen Chien-yi (陳建義) said the systems were primarily for Taiwan’s outlying islands.
The procurement and production agreement was approved early last month, with the first batch of 13 systems scheduled for delivery in early October, while the second batch is set for delivery next year, he said.
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