A US military transport plane made a brief stopover yesterday morning in Taipei, drawing media attention and no comment from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A C-146A Wolfhound touched down at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 9:32am after flying from Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan, Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) reported.
Apart from regular landing procedures handled by the airport, the air force said that it had no contact with the aircraft.
Photo: Screen grab from Twitter
It was reportedly carrying a package for newly installed AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk, who is undergoing a 14-day quarantine after arriving in Taiwan on Monday, TVBS said.
Originally scheduled to stay for one hour, the plane departed 24 minutes early at 10:06am after delivering the package, it reported.
The US Air Force says that the C-146A Wolfhound is a modified version of the Dornier 328 commuter airliner used mostly to transport small teams and cargo for the US Special Operations Command.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) expressed “grave concern” over the visit, saying that any foreign military aircraft landing on Chinese territory must be approved by the People’s Republic of China.
The US must cease playing with fire, as it would only draw Taiwan into a dangerous situation, Wu said in a statement on the ministry’s Web site.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is on high alert and will take all necessary measures to resolutely crush any designs on ‘Taiwanese independence,’” he added.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) urged the US to abide by the Three Joint Communiques and stop further provocative action.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who serves on the legislature’s National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the visit on Facebook, but declined to comment on its intent.
Regardless of what the aircraft came to do, its significance lies in the fact of its arrival, Wang said.
How the US interacts with Taiwan “is our business,” he said.
“No one else has the right to intervene,” Wang added.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS