Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明) yesterday assured the public that troops and military installations on Taiwan’s military outpost on Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島) are not currently under threat from Vietnam.
Yen said that the latest intelligence reports indicated that Vietnam’s did not deploy shoulder-fired missiles on its possession of Sand Cay — known as Dunqian Sand Island (敦謙沙洲) in Chinese and Son Ca Island to the Vietnamese — which lies only 11km east of Itu Aba.
Responding to lawmakers’ questions yesterday, Yen said that intelligence reports pointed to Vietnam enhancing its weapons, including portable missiles, to bolster its military installations in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
“However, information indicated that Vietnam has not yet deployed shoulder-fired missiles on Dunqian Sand Island, so there is no threat to our C-130 military transport planes and supply ships on their regular runs to and from Taiping Island,” he said.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said Vietnam’s new portable missiles are the Russian-made SA-16 and SA-18, which are shoulder-fired, infrared-homing surface-to-air missiles. Chiu also said the reports indicated that Vietnam has two 20mm artillery pieces on Sand Cay, which have a range of about 2km.
“The maximum range for SA-16 and SA-18 missiles is 5.5km. Therefore, their portable missiles and artillery guns do not yet pose a threat to Taiping Island and our C-130 transport planes,” he added.
The responses by Yen and Chiu contradicted a report by Ministry of National Defense to the Control Yuan, which warned of a serious threat in the Spratly Islands region due to Vietnam’s recent deployment of shoulder-fired missiles.
Vietnam has undertaken land reclamation to artificially expand the island and begun construction projects to build up military installations to beef up its presence in the area, the ministry’s report said.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
ALLEGED SABOTAGE: The damage inflicted by the vessel did not affect connection, as data were immediately rerouted to other cables, Chunghwa Telecom said Taiwan suspects that a Chinese-owned cargo vessel damaged an undersea cable near its northeastern coast on Friday, in an alleged act of sabotage that highlights the vulnerabilities of Taipei’s offshore communications infrastructure. The ship is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company whose director is Chinese, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. An unidentified Taiwanese official cited in the report described the case as sabotage. The incident followed another Chinese vessel’s suspected involvement in the breakages of data cables in the Baltic Sea in November last year. While fishing trawlers are known to sometimes damage such equipment, nation states have also
RSS