Military experts from the US, Japan, and Taiwan yesterday stressed the necessity for the three countries to work together to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait at a symposium hosted by the World Taiwanese Congress (WTC) in Taipei.
The WTC, an organization made up of overseas pro-independence Taiwanese from around the world, is currently holding its fifth annual conference in Taipei. The group plans to attend a rally today staged by the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan Alliance, to join the call for legislators to pass the long-stalled US arms procurement budget.
Kaneda Hideaki, who once served in Japan's maritime self-defense force, said at the symposium that China has been more aggressive in projecting its power abroad.
"China has been using its economic growth to expand its military capability," he said. "Starting with threatening Taiwan, China's ultimate goal is the whole world. The democratic countries in the Asia-Pacific region should therefore work together to counter China."
Vice Minister of the National Defense Ministry Michael Tsai (
"The modernization and expansion of China's military force has been beyond expectations," Tsai said. "Its annual military budget of US$30 billion is three times higher than that of Taiwan, not to mention the under-the-table budget, which is about three times [that amount]."
Tsai said that the ministry has been mulling the establishment of a military buffer zone between the two sides of the Strait, signing a code of military conduct with China and pursuing confidence-building mechanisms, all of which would require cooperation with the US and Japan.
Vice President Annette Lu (
"The illustration of China's military capability and its deployment in the US Pentagon report released in August indicated that Taiwan is facing an unprecedented crisis," Lu said.
The arms-procurement package was first brought up by the former ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Lu said, noting that the reason why the KMT has changed its position on buying arms now is that it has lost the will to protect Taiwan after it lost power.
Gary Schmitt, the executive director of the Project for the New American Century, said that often in newly democratized countries it takes time for the new ruling party to learn how to govern and for the party losing power to learn how to appropriately monitor the government.
The stalemate over the arms-procurement budget package might therefore stem from Taiwanese parties' struggle to adjust to their new roles, Schmitt said. However, he noted that the parties should hurry their pace since Taiwan is facing a growing military threat from China.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS