Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today.
After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan.
The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a meeting at the legislature.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
However, the upheaval in Venezuela has demonstrated the importance of strengthening preparedness and ensuring weapons are regularly upgraded and maintained, he added.
At the legislative committee meeting on this year’s unreviewed defense budget, Hsu told lawmakers that Venezuela’s weapons, obtained from China and Russia, proved to be far inferior to US weapons.
The issue was not only the origin of the weapons, but that they had been poorly maintained, Hsu said.
“If the enemy is advancing, we must also advance,” he added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said that the opposition's continued blocking of a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.829 billion) special defense budget bill would impact national security.
The Chinese Communist Party last week conducted “Justice Mission 2025” drills around Taiwan, seriously undermining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, the ministry said.
As China’s military moves toward acquiring the capability to invade Taiwan and enemy threats continue to mount, time has become the most important resource in defense operations, it said.
Each day that the defense budget is delayed consumes precious preparation time, it added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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