• About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Contact
Friday, January 27, 2023
Financial Eye News
  • Home
  • Markets
    • Stock Market News
    • Commodities
    • Forex
    • Renewables
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Ultimate Guide to Crypto
  • Business
    • News
    • Companies
    • Technology
    • Climate
    • Politics
  • Reports
    • Ultimate Guide to Crypto
  • VideosNew
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Markets
    • Stock Market News
    • Commodities
    • Forex
    • Renewables
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Ultimate Guide to Crypto
  • Business
    • News
    • Companies
    • Technology
    • Climate
    • Politics
  • Reports
    • Ultimate Guide to Crypto
  • VideosNew
No Result
View All Result
Financial Eye News
No Result
View All Result

Taiwan military drills take on greater urgency after invasion of Ukraine

March 19, 2022
in News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
50 1
ADVERTISEMENT

Bullets whipped through the water and the booming sound of mortar shells echoed as soldiers fired out to sea with howitzers, machine guns and rifles on Dongyin, an island 50km off the Chinese coast where Taiwan’s armed forces were practising for a potential attack.

It was a routine drill on Wednesday but many of Dongyin’s 800 residents took more notice than usual. An incursion by a Chinese aircraft last month and the conflict in Ukraine have highlighted the risk of an invasion by Beijing — and the weaknesses of Taiwan’s military.

China claims Taiwan as its territory, threatening to annex it if Taipei refuses to submit to its control indefinitely. Watching the war in Ukraine, the Taiwanese have started to discuss the threat they long used to ignore and whether their military is fit for a fight.

“People here got scared by the Chinese plane,” said Chen Li-ying, the wife of Dongyin’s mayor. “We never have aircraft flying overhead here except for helicopters, and it really flew this close and this low,” she added, pointing to a hill where the plane flew past on February 5 and was filmed by a security camera on the roof of her bed and breakfast.

Liu Hsiang-ying, a secretary at the township’s office, was at a temple that afternoon when she heard a sound she initially mistook for a military truck. “Then I realised it came from above. I looked up, and there it was, very big and very close,” she said.

Dongyin, a former pirate stronghold with a small settlement of fishermen from Fujian province, came under Taiwanese authority only when the Chinese nationalist military fled the mainland after losing the Chinese civil war in 1949. The island is Taiwan’s northernmost territory and serves as a strategic outpost, equipped with Skybow II surface-to-air missiles.

The local army command has tried to reassure residents by saying it spotted the aircraft early and it had “full grasp” of the situation. But the defence ministry’s slow reaction and its explanation of the incident, which appeared to contradict the facts on the ground, has kicked off a heated discussion among Taiwanese politicians and military experts about the armed forces’ early warning capabilities.

In a statement issued 10 days after the incursion, Taiwan’s defence ministry identified the aircraft as a Y-12, a turboprop plane often used by the Chinese coastguard to conduct reconnaissance or assert sovereignty claims in areas disputed with neighbouring countries. The ministry said China might have tested the Taiwanese military’s responses with a “civilian” aircraft, adding that the Y-12 had not entered its territory, defined as air space up to 6km from the coastline.

But military experts dispute that claim. “People on the island would not have been able to see the aircraft this close with the naked eye if it had not entered our airspace,” said a retired Taiwanese air force official.

Tsai Hsin-ju, a resident of Dongyin

Two former military officials said the operations centre that analyses all radar signals had probably not identified the object as a potentially dangerous intruding aircraft. “The long time the ministry took to come up with their assessment suggests that they identified the plane only afterwards through comprehensive analysis using other electronic signals and satellite photographs,” said one official.

The debate over the incident has been amplified by a series of recent accidents involving Taiwan’s air force, and the war in Ukraine, which Beijing has refused to condemn. On Monday, the air force grounded its entire fleet of Mirage combat aircraft after one crashed into the sea. Four fighters have been lost in similar crashes since late 2020.

Admiral Lee Hsi-min, former chief of the general staff of Taiwan’s armed forces, said the Y-12 incident was a good case study of the military’s ability to deal with problems. “If the aircraft was not detected through radar, that in itself is not a catastrophe — these things can happen,” he said, pointing to the 1987 case of German aviator Mathias Rust, who flew far into Soviet airspace and landed in Moscow’s Red Square.

“The key is how you respond. In this case, they should call all operators and analyse what went wrong,” Lee added. “But we often just try to get the incident behind us as quickly as possible by reassuring the public or narrating the heroic lives of the pilots who lost their lives. If we do that, we will not become stronger as an organisation.”

ADVERTISEMENT

In Dongyin, people have gone back to their normal lives but a sense of unease remains. “People here don’t normally have the same sense of apprehension about the Chinese as people in Taiwan have because many residents here marry Chinese and we have frequent contact with them,” said Tsai Hsin-ju, who moved to Dongyin after marrying a local six years ago and runs a restaurant and a video blog. She said islanders would frequently barter groceries with fishermen from Fujian who ventured close to the island and sometimes came ashore.

“But in fact, we are vulnerable,” she added. “We now sometimes say, ‘What if one day all those mainland fishing boats have not fish in their holds but People’s Liberation Army soldiers?’ There is nothing we could do.”

Source: Financial Times

Share6Tweet4Share1SendShareSend

Related Posts

News

Felipe Valls, 89, Whose Cuban Restaurant Became a Political Hub, Dies

December 5, 2022
News

Hertz settles lawsuits over hundreds of alleged false arrests | CNN Business

December 5, 2022
News

Russian Cruise Missiles Were Made Just Months Ago Despite Sanctions

December 5, 2022
News

Sunak dilutes housebuilding pledge in face of Tory revolt

December 5, 2022
News

US rail industry: ESG investors on track with better worker deal

December 5, 2022
News

Arizona Certifies Midterm Results After G.O.P. Resistance

December 5, 2022

Popular Stories

  • AIG to launch cut-price IPO of life and asset management unit

    48 shares
    Share 19 Tweet 12
  • EY boss targets $10bn boost from Silicon Valley tie-ups after break-up

    32 shares
    Share 13 Tweet 8
  • Tesla delays plan to restore Shanghai output to pre-lockdown levels -memo

    32 shares
    Share 13 Tweet 8
  • TV production giant Banijay to go public via Arnault-backed Spac

    30 shares
    Share 12 Tweet 8
  • Nio to Invest $32.8M Building R&D Labs in Shanghai By Financial Eye

    30 shares
    Share 12 Tweet 8
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest News

Taylor Swift Fans Sue Ticketmaster’s Parent Company

December 5, 2022

Fisker trades down following price cut at Citi By Financial Eye

December 5, 2022

UAW president faces run-off election as reformers make gains

December 5, 2022

Felipe Valls, 89, Whose Cuban Restaurant Became a Political Hub, Dies

December 5, 2022

Longroad buys 98-MW solar farm in California

December 5, 2022
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Financial Eye is one of the most trusted news sources for Financial News, global news and local USA news, we provide the news from the most trusted sources.

LEARN MORE »

Recent News

  • Taylor Swift Fans Sue Ticketmaster’s Parent Company
  • Fisker trades down following price cut at Citi By Financial Eye
  • UAW president faces run-off election as reformers make gains

Sections

  • Business
  • Climate
  • Commodities
  • Companies
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Forex
  • Green Energy
  • Latest Financial News
  • News
  • Politics
  • Stock Market News
  • Technology
  • Videos

© 2022 Financial Eye News Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Markets
    • Stock Market News
    • Commodities
    • Forex
    • Renewables
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Ultimate Guide to Crypto
  • Business
    • News
    • Companies
    • Technology
    • Climate
    • Politics
  • Reports
    • Ultimate Guide to Crypto
  • Videos

© 2022 Financial Eye News Media

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Subscribe To Our Daily News Round-Up.

The top ten most-read stories direct to your inbox

You have Successfully Subscribed!

You have Successfully Subscribed!

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.