The air force yesterday conducted a rare public drill, loading locally made cruise missiles that reportedly can reach coastal Chinese provinces, amid an increase in military threats from Beijing.
Flight personnel from the First Tactical Fighter Wing loaded an Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jet with Wan Chien air-to-ground cruise missiles at Tainan Air Base.
The missile, developed by the military’s top research unit, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, is said to be able to hit Chinese airports and military units in China’s Fujian and Guangdong provinces if fired from Taiwanese fighter jets from near the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
However, Colonel Lee Ching-shi (李慶熙), head of political warfare for the First Tactical Fighter Wing, declined to comment on the missiles’ range or whether air force fighters have already been armed with them on routine patrols.
The drill, which was open to the press, was part of the pre-Lunar New Year holiday drill that the military holds annually to show the public that the armed forces are combat-ready at all times.
An emergency takeoff drill was also held at the base to simulate a Chinese air invasion. It took only about five minutes for an IDF to take off after its pilot heard the scramble alarm.
The drill was held after 29 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military aircraft crossed into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the past three days.
Four PLA aircraft yesterday entered Taiwan’s ADIZ, according to the Ministry of National Defense’s Web site.
That marks the 22nd day this month that China has sent aircraft into the nation’s ADIZ.
Asked to comment on the high frequency of Chinese intrusions, Lee said that the air force is under tremendous pressure, but would always be ready for combat to safeguard the nation’s airspace.
Lee said that the Taichung-based Third Tactical Fighter Wing has deployed another squadron of IDF jets at Magong Airport in outlying Penghu County, so that it would be able to respond immediately to any Chinese activity.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant