Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft on Friday afternoon flew over the sea southwest of Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said.
An unspecified number of Chinese H-6 bombers at about 4pm flew over the region before entering the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, the ministry said in a statement.
Soon after entering the Bashi Channel, the bombers returned to an unspecified base through the same route, the ministry said.
The ministry said that it monitored the flights closely with its advanced joint surveillance system, and reported no irregular action from the aircraft.
China has carried out an increasing number of drills near Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) first took office in 2016.
On Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, China also dispatched aircraft on a flight mission near Taiwan, the ministry said.
In those incidents, the ministry said it observed Chinese J-11 fighters, KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft and H-6 bombers flying over the Bashi Channel and into the Western Pacific Ocean, before returning to their bases via the Miyako Strait, between Japan’s Miyako and Okinawa islands, to the northeast of Taiwan
On Feb. 10, several Chinese aircraft briefly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s airspace, but retreated to the western side of the line after the military dispatched F-16s and other military aircraft to meet them and issue radio warnings, the ministry said.
After the incident, the US on Feb. 12 dispatched two B-52 Stratofortress bombers on southward flights off Taiwan’s east coast, while an MJ-130J Commando II multi-mission combat transport plane flew over the Taiwan Strait, also heading south.
On Feb. 16, the US sent the USS Chancellorsville south through the Taiwan Strait.
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