The US military sent a P-3C anti-submarine bomber to patrol south of Taiwan yesterday, the second day in a row that the US Air Force has deployed aircraft near Taiwan after Chinese jets earlier this week flew missions that circled the nation.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) posted information on yesterday’s flight on Facebook.
“An American P-3C aircraft took off from US Kadena Air Force Base [in Okinawa, Japan] this morning. It headed to about 70 to 80 nautical miles [130km to 148km] south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and afterward returned to Kadena,” Wang wrote.
Photo: screen grab from the US Air Force Web site
Wang is the convener of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee for this legislative session.
“The Ministry of National Defense fully monitored the aircraft’s passage and said it was a routine mission by the US Air Force,” Wang wrote.
He included a photograph of a P-3C flying over water with the post.
“We have seen a rare action by US military aircraft, with two B-52s and an MC-130J Commando II transport aircraft circling Taiwan the previous day, flying east of Taiwan and following the Taiwan Strait,” Wang wrote, adding: “This has led to a lot of public interest.”
US military newspaper Stars and Stripes quoted US Pacific Air Forces spokeswoman Victoria Hight as saying that “the [US] Air Force flew two B-52 bombers and an MC-130J Commando II tanker near the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday morning after Chinese naval and air forces flew over [sic] the island twice this week.”
Other news reports said that two B-52s had flown from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and conducted “synchronized training south of the Taiwan Strait with a US Air Force MC-130J” from Kadena.
Taiwanese F-16 jets scrambled to monitor the movement of the Chinese military planes, which briefly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, prompting verbal warnings.
“The US Air Force is responding to China’s military threats against Taiwan, since it is quite unusual for it to fly missions to Taiwan’s east and west at the same time,” defense expert Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.
Additional reporting by Jason Pan
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS