As Beijing began a military exercise around Taiwan yesterday, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) condemned each other’s approach toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The PRC’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began an exercise called “Justice Mission 2025” yesterday in the Taiwan Strait and seas to Taiwan’s north, southwest, southeast and east.
The PLA said it would conduct live-fire drills today from 8am to 6pm in five designated maritime and airspace zones around Taiwan.
Photo: EPA
The exercise triggered recriminations by the DPP and KMT against each other.
DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) criticized KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) for saying she would prioritize visiting Beijing in the first half of next year and describing a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as having “major strategic significance.”
Wu said Cheng’s remarks, made as China announced the exercises, showed the KMT’s cross-strait approach put Beijing first while ignoring Taiwan’s security and dignity.
He added the timing of the exercises, which came shortly after the Taipei-Shanghai Twin City Forum that concluded on Sunday, undercut the KMT’s claims that cross-strait exchanges helped ease tensions.
In response, Cheng said in a statement that China’s military pressure stemmed from what she described as the DPP government’s “wrong cross-strait policies,” arguing that President William Lai’s (賴清德) confrontational approach had heightened security risks and international anxiety.
Cheng said the KMT did not expect Beijing to halt military preparations in response to appeals by an opposition party, and she accused Lai of provoking confrontation while expecting the opposition parties to keep the door open for cross-strait peace.
She questioned the government’s defense policies, saying that its talk of building resilience was undermined by shortages of professional soldiers to operate Taiwan’s growing arsenal, and resistance to proposals to improve pay and conditions for servicemembers.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) condemned the Chinese drills, saying they would do nothing to promote cross-strait peace or regional stability and instead deepen tensions.
Huang warned that continued military intimidation would only increase regional uncertainty.
The TPP urged Beijing to halt actions that undermined stability in the Taiwan Strait and act responsibly to maintain regional peace.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS