Because China has never signed a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs, to maximize its military position, Taiwan will continue to include the weapons in its arsenal, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said on Thursday.
While the majority of Taiwan’s cluster bombs are imported, the ministry said that the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology has made the necessary preparations to independently manufacture the bombs.
TREATY
Cluster bombs often kill innocent civilians.
On May 28, 124 countries reached an agreement on a treaty in Dublin, Ireland, that will ban the use of cluster bombs internationally. This treaty will most likely be signed in Oslo, Norway, at the end of this year.
However, the world’s main users and manufacturers of cluster bombs, including China, the US, Israel, India and Russia are against moves to ban the weapons and are not likely to sign the treaty.
A cluster bomb is loaded with smaller bomblets, which are sprayed across a wide area and are capable of causing massive damage at distances of up to 25m.
Unexploded cluster bombs left behind after attacks have killed many innocent civilians and have therefore drawn much international attention.
TAIWAN’S ARSENAL
Military officials said half of Taiwan’s RT2000 (Thunder) multiple launch rocket systems are packed with high-explosive shell types, while the other half are packed with cluster bombs.
Taiwan would use cluster bombs to attack ships in waters close to Taiwan. The bombs are dispersed across the surface of the ocean and should therefore pose no threat to civilians, the ministry said.
While cluster bombs will continue to be included in Taiwan’s arsenal for the time being, high-explosive shell bombs will be used in place of cluster bombs if the international ban succeeds.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
RSS