President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday urged military graduates to beware of China’s spying activities and clearly distinguish friend from foe.
Lai made the remark in his address to a graduation ceremony at the Fu Hsing Kang College on the outskirts of Taipei, saying that a soldier’s honor stems from loyalty.
“In the face of various threats and challenges, as well as China’s infiltration, division, sabotage and espionage activities targeting our armed forces, I ask all of you to establish a clear awareness of friend and foe,” he said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA
“Only by resisting all forms of threat and temptation can we defend our nation’s sovereignty and security,” he said.
Taiwan and China have long spied on each other, and Taiwan in particular has reported an increased number of Chinese espionage cases, especially in the armed forces.
China has not renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and its military operates daily around the nation.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Lai urged the graduates to oppose communism, guard against infiltration, firmly uphold democracy and freedom, and insist that Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other.
Facing China’s continued military activity and “gray zone” pressure in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, Taiwan will keep bolstering its self-defense capabilities, he said.
The nation would also work closely with democratic partners to improve collective deterrence, with the aim of achieving “peace through strength,” he added.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA
The president told the graduates that graduation from a military academy marked not the end of learning, but the start of a new stage of service in which graduates would put their training into practice.
He urged them to keep learning, particularly as artificial intelligence and digital transformation reshape the security landscape, and to cultivate innovative thinking and cross-disciplinary expertise.
He also called on them to embrace challenges, broaden their global outlook and sharpen their leadership skills to lead the armed forces into a new era.
The government would remain the military’s staunchest backer and continue boosting defense spending, he said.
Through overseas arms purchases, international cooperation and the development of Taiwan’s indigenous defense industry, the government aims to build a “T-Dome,” equip the armed forces with cutting-edge weapons and gradually develop a smart, sustainable defense force, Lai said.
The college, now part of the National Defense University, was founded in 1951, just two years after the defeated Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government fled to Taiwan, after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) communists. Initially its task was to train officers in political warfare and instill a deep feeling of anti-communism in the military. During the Cold War, the college also trained officers from elsewhere in the anti-communist world, and it still has foreign students.
Attending yesterday’s ceremony were the ambassadors of Belize, Guatemala and Paraguay, all countries that retain formal ties with Taiwan, as well as the de facto ambassador from Jordan, which does not recognize Taiwan, despite close Cold War military ties.
Torrential rains from a passing tropical storm shut down a swathe of southern Taiwan today, forcing more than 5 million people to stay home from work or school. Typhoon Mekkhala, now a tropical storm and nearing southern Japan's Ryukyu Islands, did not make direct landfall in Taiwan, but its outer bands brought heavy rain to parts of the nation, especially Kaohsiung, Tainan and Pingtung in the south. The governments of all three regions, where more than 5 million people live, ordered offices and schools closed today. Severe flooding in Tainan shut down a section of the main north-south railway line. No casualties have been
A Chinese man who uploaded video footage of restricted areas at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport would be barred from entering Taiwan for two years, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said today. The man uploaded a video to the Shanghai-based platform Bilibili on Thursday last week under the account name "White Sheep in the Sky" (天上白羊), documenting his arrival at the airport. The video included footage of security screening and immigration inspection areas, where photography is clearly prohibited. The video also repeatedly referred to Taiwan as "China Taiwan" and appeared to intentionally cover the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name) flag with a
YELLOW ALERT: Work and classes are to be suspended in 10 districts in Kaohsiung, and residents in areas in Hualien County have been evacuated over flood risk, officials said The combined influence of Tropical Storm Mekkhala and the southwest jetstream brought torrential rainfall to Taiwan, with severe flooding reported in Taipei and multiple other regions. Today, work and classes are to be suspended in 10 districts of Kaohsiung — Namasiya (那瑪夏), Taoyuan (桃源), Jiaxian (甲仙), Liugui (六龜), Maolin (茂林), Meinong (美濃), Qishan (旗山), Neimen (內門), Shanlin (杉林) and Tianliao (田寮) — while Pingtung County would suspend work and classes across the entire county. Meanwhile, residents of seven areas in Hualien County’s Fonglin (鳳林) and Wanrong (萬榮) townships were to be evacuated yesterday, after a flood alert was issued for a
The new MRT Sanying Line in New Taipei City is scheduled to open on Tuesday next week, with rides free through Aug. 31 as part of a two-month trial period, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. The New Taipei City Government’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems and New Taipei Metro Corp are to operate a new 14.29km-long metro line connecting 12 stations across the city’s Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽) and Yingge (鶯歌) districts. The commute time from the Sanying area into Taipei and New Taipei City is expected to be cut by up to 20 minutes, Hou
RSS