A Chinese aircraft carrier group yesterday sailed through the Taiwan Strait, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said, a day after China held a live-fire exercise near Taiwan.
“The Liaoning is passing through the Taiwan Strait now, sailing north along the west of the median line and we are closely monitoring it,” Koo told reporters at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The Liaoning also took part in China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Monday last week.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan said at the time that the Liaoning operated off the nation’s southeast coast during those drills, launching aircraft off its deck.
It appeared to be returning to Qingdao port in eastern China via the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Island, 東沙島), in the northern part of the South China Sea, for “replenishing and necessary maintenance,” said Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓), a retired navy captain at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research think tank.
Its involvement in the recent military drills was for “the purpose of practising against foreign forces and intimidating Taiwan,” Jiang said.
In Beijing, China said that it was “perfectly normal” for its aircraft carriers to sail near Taiwan.
“Taiwan is Chinese territory. It is perfectly normal for Chinese aircraft carriers to sail in its own territory and territorial waters,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) told a regular briefing.
China has two aircraft carriers in service, and a third undergoing sea trials. The Liaoning has previously passed through the Strait.
Japan last month said the same carrier had entered Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time.
China has sailed its carriers through the strategic strait before, including in December shortly before Taiwan held elections.
China says it alone has jurisdiction over the nearly 180km-wide waterway that is a major passageway for international trade. Taiwan and the US dispute that, saying the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway.
The US Navy regularly sails through the Strait to assert freedom of navigation rights. Other allied states, such as Canada, Germany and Britain, have also carried out similar missions, to the anger of Beijing.
In related news, Japan and the US yesterday commenced 10 days of joint military drills involving tens of thousands of personnel.
The joint military drills “Keen Sword” would involve 45,000 Japanese and US troops, 40 vessels and 370 aircraft, as well as some forces from Australia and Canada, the Japanese Joint Staff said.
The exercises, which take place every two years, are being held across Japan, including at Japanese and US military bases, through Friday next week.
“We have a strong sense of urgency that we can’t rule out the possibility of a serious situation resembling Ukraine happening in regions near our country,” General Yoshihide Yoshida, the top uniformed officer in Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, said on Tuesday.
“We are determined to prevent and deter such a situation,” he told a news conference, adding that the US-Japan alliance was integral to regional stability.
“Keen Sword will ensure we maintain our advantage over those who seek to undermine the rule-based international order,” Admiral Steve Koehler, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, told reporters on Tuesday.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS