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
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS