Taiwan has not been intimidated by China’s military drills this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, while a senior US official denounced the latest Chinese maneuvers as “coercion” and a threat to regional stability.
Tsai said Taiwan was resolute in its defense.
“China’s armed forces yesterday [Monday] sent a large number of military aircraft and naval vessels into our vicinity. Their actions threaten Taiwan and other like-minded countries in the region,” Tsai said at a forum cohosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 40th anniversary of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The event was attended by a delegation led by former US House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan.
“These actions only serve to strengthen our resolve. Our military forces have the capacity, determination and commitment to defend Taiwan and not allow coercion to dictate our own future,” Tsai said.
She also said that US President Donald Trump’s administration had notified Taipei that its pilots could continue training at the Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
“It enhances their abilities to defend our airspace. I want to express my appreciation to the US government for the announcement,” she said.
Taiwan scrambled jets and ships to monitor the Chinese forces on Monday, the Ministry of National Defense said, accusing Beijing of “trying to change the ‘status quo’ of the Taiwan Strait.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that Taipei was seeking to “slander” China and mislead the public with its criticism of the exercises to provoke confrontation.
“No person or any force should underestimate our firm determination and strong ability to defend the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it said.
The People’s Liberation Army Daily said the goal of the drills was to practice a “combined firepower assault” that included electronic jamming from aircraft under the protection of fighter jets.
Bombers “screamed” toward the area and carried out “sudden attacks,” while warships occupied assault positions and conducted attacks on enemy fire points, the official paper of China’s military said.
Landing forces reached specified waters, which were circled by helicopters at low altitude.
The paper cited a Chinese military representative as saying the exercises were held annually and “completely within the normal legal rights of a sovereign country.”
China has repeatedly carried out what it calls “island encirclement patrols” in the past few years.
Ryan said that the US considered any military threat to Taiwan a concern and urged China to stop, saying it was counterproductive.
“I urge Beijing to choose the path of peace, respect, and civility by resuming dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected administration,” he said.
Tsai said she wants to maintain the “status quo” with China, but would defend Taiwan’s security and democracy.
The visit by US officials comes weeks after Tsai said the US was responding positively to Taipei’s requests for new arms sales to bolster its defenses in the face of growing pressure from China.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
Parts of the nation, including in the south, could experience temperatures as low as 7°C early tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. A strong continental cold air mass coupled with the effect of radiative cooling would bring cold weather to several northern cities and counties, and could even affect areas as far south as Tainan early tomorrow, the CWA said. Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties would experience temperatures below 10°C until this evening, according to cold surge advisories issued by the weather agency. The weather across the nation is forecast to remain
RSS