Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱) yesterday said his ministry supported a plan to deploy missiles on Taiping Island (太平島) in the South China Sea.
Kao made the remarks at the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, where Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) called for the strengthening of the military presence on the island.
Coast Guard Administration personnel have been stationed on Taiping since the marines pulled out in 1999, but legislators have asked the government to expand defense capabilities there.
Lin said territorial claims over the area by neighboring countries have grown louder recently. Vietnam could expand its Su-27SK and Su-30MK2 aircraft to 24 or even 36, with operational ranges of between 1,500km and 3,000km. This poses a serious threat to the defense arrangements on Taiping, Lin said.
The military has the obligation to help the coast guard defend Taiping, Lin said, asking whether Kao supported the deployment of air defense systems on the island.
“If the coast guard considered it necessary to strengthen defense deployment, the ministry would give its full support,” Kao said.
“Would it be possible to deploy the Tien Chien I ‘Sky Sword’ (天劍一, TC-1) or the M48A2 Chaparral on land?” Lin asked.
Kao said if the coast guard needed any weapon systems, it could earmark a budget to procure them from the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, and the military would cooperate with the procurement. The M48A2 missiles are old, so the Antelope would be more appropriate, he said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS