Taiwan’s air force conducted live-fire training exercises deploying fighter jets, missiles and laser-guided bombs, the Military News Agency said yesterday, releasing footage of the drills 10 days before the inauguration of a new president China calls a “dangerous separatist.”
The May 20 inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) would be closely watched globally. The Ministry of National Defense-affiliated Military News Agency said yesterday that Taipei’s air force had conducted routine training exercises for its jet pilots “to enhance precision strike capabilities in aerial combat,” without specifying when. Fighter jets were equipped with US-made Maverick missiles and laser-guided bombs to hit “sea and land targets at the offshore reef range near Penghu,” the agency said on its Web site.
Footage released by the agency showed personnel loading the projectiles — which had “US Air Force” displayed on them — under the wings of the jets. A pilot then released the missiles from the fighter jet, and the video footage showed an explosion in the waters around Penghu.
Photo: AFP / Taiwan Military News Agency
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took power in 2016, her administration has boosted economic and military ties with the US, a key partner for Taiwan and a major weapons provider.
On May 20, Lai, currently the vice president, is to assume the reins of the presidency amid sky-high tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
Beijing has stepped up patrols around Kinmen, located just 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen. On Thursday, the coast guard sounded the alarm over a fleet of seven Chinese official ships and five China Coast Guard ships around Kinmen, with 11 of them entering restricted waters for about 90 minutes before sailing away. Thursday’s show of maritime force was “the fourth formation of Chinese coast guard ships sailing in Kinmen waters” in May, it said.
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