No air defense missile systems had been activated before a US delegation arrived in Taipei on Wednesday, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday.
The delegation is comprised of former US senator Chris Dodd, former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, and US Department of State Taiwan Coordination Office Director Dan Biers.
On the day of the delegation’s arrival, China’s Maritime Safety Administration announced a six-day live-fire military exercise, conducted daily from 8am to 6pm, near the Nanpeng Islands (南澎列島) in the South China Sea.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said that the exercise is a “necessity” to prevent collusion between Taiwan and the US, while Taiwan’s water shortage had been caused by arms purchases from the US.
TAO spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said that the “unofficial” visit of the US delegation was a sham, adding that China is categorically against any sort of Taiwan-US interaction.
“Interactions between Taiwan and the US cannot change the fact that Taiwan is a part of China,” Ma said.
In Taipei, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) told reporters ahead of a meeting of the legislative’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee that Taiwan is tracking all Chinese military movements.
Chiu denied that the military had put anti-aircraft missile systems and units on alert to ensure the safe arrival of the US delegation.
Chiu also disputed China’s comments on Taiwan’s water shortage.
Arms purchases from the US do not affect infrastructure funding, he added.
Chiu said the statements are efforts to subtly influence the military through cognitive warfare, “but our military will not be affected and will continue its mission — to protect our country.”
In response to queries from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏), Deputy Minister of National Defense Chang Che-ping (張哲平) said that the ministry had not designated Chinese military movements as a “military exercise,” adding that China’s activities near the Nanpeng Islands were localized.
The possibility of cross-strait hostility was minimal, Chang said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) inquired about the progress of the indigenous jet program.
Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology president Art Chang (張忠誠) said that the project has received NT$10 billion (US$352,336 million) in funding.
The overall design and the first stage of manufacturing of the engine are expected to conclude in 2024, Art Chang said.
The ministry did not report any Chinese military aircraft entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday, but there were two incursions by Chinese J-16 fighters yesterday afternoon.
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods