Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) yesterday denied a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Monday that suggested that Taiwan’s military would be no match for China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“I don’t understand what foreign media is basing its evaluation on, but I’m very confident in our military. There is no need to feel dispirited,” Chiu told reporters.
In its report, the Journal said that US military and government officials were concerned about China’s ambitions toward Taiwan and that very few among them believed that Taiwan could resist an attack by the PLA.
Photo: Mandy Cheng, AFP
The report cited the officials as saying they believed morale was low in Taiwan’s military and that its preparations for a Chinese attack were inadequate.
The report blamed Taiwan’s shift from a mandatory two-year conscription for all young men to a four-month term that mostly had conscripts “sweeping leaves and pulling weeds.”
The report said practice at a firing range was the only beneficial part of the training.
Chiu said that he had previously heard criticism that the military was worsening with each generation, but he had also denied that assertion.
Separately, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) at a routine news conference yesterday called for public support in efforts to strengthen national defenses in the face of Chinese threats to regional security.
The military would continuously aim to strengthen its combat abilities, he said, adding that military preparedness was an ongoing task.
The specifics of training would always keep pace with the times and the military is always working hard to make improvements, Shih said.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday said that Taiwan had already transitioned to a professional military and that the four months of general training was not the same as that for professional military personnel.
“It’s true there is room for improvement in our military, but this idea often raised by opposition lawmakers and foreign academics that our military gets only four months of training is just a blatant attempt at disparagement,” Wang said.
The quality of Taiwan’s professional military training, the integration of branches of the military and its use of technology far exceed that of the PLA, he said.
However, in terms of the quality of equipment Taiwan still lags behind the PLA, he added.
“If you want to talk about morale, the family members of Taiwan’s military personnel live here in Taiwan. Of course their determination to protect this nation is greater than the will of the enemy to invade it,” Wang said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS