Taiwan intends to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise, but the biggest obstacle has been an objection raised by China, Ministry of National Defense officials said.
“We have sought such opportunities and have expressed our willingness to take part in RIMPAC, which is the largest naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean and is hosted by the US,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Admiral Chen Yung-kang (陳永康) said when he tabled a report at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
Chen also said talks are under way between the navy and its US counterpart on the use of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).
After establishing CUES protocol based on international radio signal communication procedures, Chen said that Taiwan’s “navy could then have the opportunity to go on toward the next step of participating in joint multinational naval exercises.”
Designed to reduce uncertainty and facilitate communication, CUES works to ensure safe and professional interactions on the high seas. The framework is also a tool for sea services to better promote international cooperation and transparency between the armed forces of different nations.
“Japan, South Korea, the Philippines — and China as well — each of them first agreed upon CUES with the US, then followed up with joint military exercises and further cooperation between the US and their armed forces,” Chen said.
“We were not able to do so in the past because of objections raised by China, but our armed forces are seeking to take part in bilateral or multilateral military exercises, and we will not give up. It is up to the host country. If they invite us, then we will participate,” he added.
Meanwhile, ministry officials yesterday confirmed that the military plans for the first time to dispatch Lockheed P-3C Orion marine patrol aircraft on surveillance missions to the South China Sea in the near future.
The ministry’s budget report sent to the legislature said that the military has taken delivery of eight US-made P-3Cs and another four are to be delivered by the end of this year.
The aircraft are mainly engaged in marine reconnaissance and joint surveillance in Taiwan’s surrounding waters and its air defense identification zone, the report said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS