Nineteen Chinese military aircraft, including fighter jets, yesterday flew into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the fourth time this month, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The intruding People’s Liberation Army (PLA) planes were 10 J-16 multirole fighters, four H-6 bombers, four SU-30 fighters and one Y-8 marine patrol aircraft, a report released by the ministry said.
PRATAS ISLANDS
All of the aircraft were spotted southwest of Taiwan, between Taiwan and the Taiwanese-held Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), a chart in the report showed.
While not considered territorial airspace, it is part of Taiwan’s ADIZ, an area declared by a country to allow it to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft.
The air force responded by scrambling aircraft to monitor the Chinese planes, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets, the ministry said.
Since the ministry started publishing incursions of Chinese aircraft on Sept. 17 last year, the highest number to enter Taiwan’s ADIZ was 28 planes on June 15, two days after the G7 highlighted the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
TANK TRAINING AREAS
Next year, the armed forces plan to construct two tank training facilities in Hsinchu County, as the US is to deliver 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks from 2024 to 2026, the ministry’s budget plan shows.
The army has about 1,000 tanks, including the CM-11 Brave Tiger and M60A3 tanks, which have been in use for more than 20 years.
The military has allocated a budget of NT$40.5 billion (US$1.46 billion) from 2019 to 2027 to purchase the 108 tanks, which are expected to be assigned to the Sixth Army Corps in northern Taiwan.
Thirty-eight of the tanks are to be delivered in 2024, 42 in 2025 and 28 in 2026.
According to the budget proposal, which has been submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review, NT$4.39 billion is to be allocated for the production of military equipment and the construction of facilities related to operating the new tanks.
The army proposed a budget of NT$450.79 million to build training facilities at the army base in Hsinchu’s Hukou Township (湖口) and NT$1.19 billion at the base in Sinfeng Township (新豐).
Construction of the planned tank driving courses and firing ranges is to begin next year, the budget proposal said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow