Many people in Taiwan look upon China’s military exercises over the past week with calm resignation, doubting that war is imminent and if anything, feeling pride in their nation’s determination to defend itself.
After a visit to Taiwan last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China has sent ships and aircraft across an unofficial buffer between Taiwan and China’s coast and missiles over Taipei and into waters surrounding the nation since Thursday last week.
However, Rosa Chang, proudly watching her son take part in Taiwanese military exercises that included dozens of howitzers firing shells into the Taiwan Strait off Pingtung County, said that China’s behavior was “childish.”
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
“It’s like a group of children threatening you and telling you what to do... China really doesn’t have to do all this,” Chang said.
Lou Wei-chieh (樓偉傑), a military director general of political warfare, told reporters that the annual live-fire exercises aimed at beating back invaders intent on storming beaches, were routine and “unrelated to the current situation.”
Taiwan says China was using Pelosi’s trip as a pretext for intimidation it had long had in the works.
“We’re just ordinary people, there’s nothing we can do,” said a man who gave his name as Chen, also watching the Pingtung drills. “If anything happens, there’s nothing we can do.”
Many in Taiwan say they are accustomed to decades of saber rattling and see little cause for alarm.
An opinion poll published this week by Taiwan’s Chinese Association of Public Opinion Research showed that 60 percent of respondents were either not that worried or not worried at all that there would be a war between Taiwan and China.
“We’re not feeling particularly nervous,” said Jenny Cheng, a 23-year-old civil servant. “Nothing special is going to happen.”
Others have rallied round to support the government’s defiance.
Robert Tsao (曹興誠), founder and former chairman of Taiwanese chip maker United Microelectronics Corp, last week pledged to donate NT$3 billion (US$100 million) to help Taiwan bolster its defenses.
China this week said that it would conduct more drills focusing on anti-submarine and sea assault operations — confirming the fears of some security analysts and diplomats that it would keep up the pressure on Taiwan’s defenses.
However, on Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球), a picturesque tourist spot near one of the areas where the Chinese military was conducting exercises last week, people were largely indifferent.
“It feels very normal,” said Chung Ping, 30, who owns a diving hostel.
He said that no one had canceled their holiday bookings.
“It’s unlikely that conflict will happen,” he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai