DEFENSE
Budget for backbone network
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has earmarked about NT$4.9 billion (US$153.5 million) to acquire backbone subnetworks for faster and more stable battlefield data transmission. The budget request, pending legislative review, would fund 213 backbone subnetworks, 179 microwave transmission subsystems, power generators and fiber channels to facilitate data transmission to command centers and weapons launch platforms across different services of the armed forces, according to the spending plan delivered to the legislature by the ministry on Friday last week. The planned systems are expected to boost the survivability of critical military command and control systems during wartime by establishing a fiber optic communication system and a high-capacity data transmission network across the nation. They are also expected to ensure uninterrupted data transmissions between command and control centers, harbors, airports, and joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, the ministry said. For fiscal year 2025, about NT$59 million has been earmarked for the design and planning of the systems and on-site evaluations. The project would take place from next year to 2030, the plans show.
DIPLOMACY
Garafil to head MECO
Cheloy Garafil, a former press secretary to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is to be the new representative to Taiwan, a Philippine official said on Thursday. Garafil is to head the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), Marcos’ newly appointed press secretary Cesar Chavez told reporters in Manila without giving a specific date. MECO, which serves as the Philippines’ de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, is currently headed by Silvestre Hernando Bello III, who has held the post since July 2022. In June 2022, Garafil was appointed as head of the Philippines’ Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. She also worked as a prosecutor at the Department of Justice during the administration of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippine media reports said. Prior to her government jobs, Garafil worked as a reporter for the Malaya newspaper and also as a stringer for Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The announcement of her appointment to the MECO post was made during Chavez’s swearing in as the new press secretary.
CROSS-STRAIT
SEF urges more exchanges
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Acting Chairman Rock Hsu (許勝雄) on Thursday called for greater exchanges among Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau businesses to boost enterprises’ competitiveness. “Increased cooperation and integration among enterprises across the Strait is pivotal to help enhance Taiwanese companies’ competitive edge and to lay a sound foundation for them to expand internationally,” Hsu told reporters before the opening of the 10th Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Forum on Economic and Trade in Taipei. Hsu said the SEF is also hopeful that Taiwan and China can reopen tourism and educational exchanges, as limiting them creates misgivings. Opening up to tourists would undoubtedly increase mutual understanding and interactions, he said, describing it as a “positive development.” The annual Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Forum on Economic and Trade has been held by rotating hosts since 2012. It was held in Suzhou last year.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China