China's navy sailed eight warships into Hong Kong yesterday in its biggest show of military force since the former colony's 1997 handover from Britain.
The port call is meant to boost patriotism in Hong Kong, but analysts also said China was flexing its naval muscles to send Taiwan a message discouraging any thoughts on independence.
A vice admiral did not directly address that issue when asked by reporters.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"We are always on call," said Yao Xingyuan (
Yao said the two destroyers, four frigates and two submarines are in Hong Kong until this Wednesday to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the PLA's navy.
Yao said the ships will sail through Victoria Harbor when they depart, giving the territory a good look at them, but he wouldn't say where they were heading next.
The port call comes at time when many Hong Kongers are angered by Beijing's decision to rule out full democracy here in the near future.
About 100 Hong Kong residents visited one ship yesterday morning, waving Chinese and Hong Kong flags as bands played patriotic music.
"As a Hong Konger, as a Chinese, I want to welcome my own navy," said Man Yu-ming, a 45-year-old insurance agent.
"I want to check out the equipment on the ships," said Elaine Ng, who is 50 and unemployed.
The visit was an apparent message to Taiwan, said political expert Ding Xueliang (丁學良) of the University of Science and Technology.
But Ding expressed doubts that a show of force by China would prompt any changes in Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's (
Defense analysts said any Chinese naval attack on Taiwan would be unlikely to succeed.
China would have difficulty providing enough cover to troops to make an amphibious landing, said Robert Karniol, Asia-Pacific editor of Jane's Defense Weekly, in a telephone interview from Bangkok.
Political scientist Joseph Cheng (
The visit comes as many Hong Kong people demand the right to directly elect their leader in 2007 and all lawmakers in 2008. Many of these had their hopes shattered on Monday when Beijing ruled out such reforms.
The eight warships are the biggest group China has sent here since the 1997 handover. Two warships visited during a port call in 2001.
A PLA spokesman said the vessels are a battle group en route to a training exercise at an undisclosed location. Sailors will be allowed to tour Hong Kong in civilian clothing.
The PLA has stationed troops here since the 1997 handover, but they generally keep a low profile and stay inside their barracks to avoid alarming Hong Kong citizens.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS