The military is to hold combat readiness drills involving the air force, navy and army this month in the wake of China stepping up military activities around Taiwan, a military source said on Tuesday.
After a six-year hiatus, the army is to conduct a one-week force-on-force training exercise in central Taiwan starting on Monday to strengthen live-fire training for combined armed brigades, the source said.
The drill, which would simulate confrontation scenarios in central areas of the country, is to be be carried out by the army’s 269th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in northern Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC) Marine Corps’ 99th Brigade in the south, with the 10th Army Corps Command presiding over the exercise, the source added.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The air force’s annual Tien Lung (“Sky Dragon”) drills are scheduled to start on Oct. 30 to test the air force’s air-to-air, air-to-sea and air-to-ground combat skills.
In addition, the navy’s annual drills started on Monday and would run until tomorrow, the source said.
The military drills are being staged amid rising cross-Taiwan Strait tensions and routine incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
The ADIZ is a self-defined area in which the country states it has the right to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, but is not part of territorial airspace as defined by international law.
China also frequently sailed military vessels near Taiwan, including many that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the country’s southwestern ADIZ.
Meanwhile, The military yesterday held a landing exercise at Cisingtan (七星潭) in Hualien County, listing the beach as a potential landing site for an amphibious operation for the first time since 1989.
Cisingtan has been named as one of nearly 20 “red beaches,” or potential landing sites for the Chinese military, but it is considered a difficult landing site due to its terrain, requiring study to identify potential landing paths and defense strategies.
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
RSS