China’s military flies eight sorties within 44 kilometers of Taiwan proper

China’s military flies eight sorties within 44 kilometers of Taiwan proper

2023-06-25

Taiwan’s missile defense system in Pingtung County was deployed on Saturday when Chinese fighter jets flew to within 44 kilometers of Taiwan’s main island. On Sunday, the defense ministry confirmed the incident. But one retired Air Force general says the military should be more active and send Taiwan’s own fighters on regular patrols in the Taiwan Strait. Meanwhile, one military analyst says China’s saber rattling will only result in greater international support for Taiwan, thereby defying Beijing’s threatening rhetoric.

Taiwan’s domestically produced Sky Bow III longe-range air-defense missiles have a range of approximately 200 kilometers. On Saturday, launch vehicles for those missiles appeared on the streets of Hengchun in Pingtung County, after Chinese military aircraft came within 44 kilometers from Taiwan’s shoreline.

Voice of Sun Li-fang
Defense ministry spokesperson
Starting at around 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, the national defense ministry detected 19 sorties by various Chinese military aircraft including the J-10, the J-16 and others. Eight of the sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, and came within 44 kilometers of Taiwan’s shoreline. There were also five Chinese military vessels involved in combat-readiness drills and patrols.

According to a trajectory map released by the defense ministry, a total of eight Chinese J-10 fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, coming within 44 kilometers of Taiwan proper.

Chang Yen-ting
Retired Air Force official
In Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Yilan, there are no dedicated military air bases. No fighter jets are permanently stationed there, and no military aircraft on standby alert. If you just rely on anti-aircraft missiles for tracking and monitoring, the effectiveness is very limited. In the future, we should send four F-16s, or four Mirage 2000s or IDFs every month to Kinmen or Matsu Islands on patrol, as a show of power. We could also send our drones. We would cross the median line of the strait for reconnaissance and patrols. As soon as a PLA plane enters our training airspace, we would respond by sending planes to intercept it.

The retired official said Taiwan’s military must take a more active defense posture, citing increased tensions in the Taiwan Strait that have even garnered the concern of the U.S.

The U.S.’ National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 mentions the establishment of a “comprehensive training, advising, and institutional capacity-building program for the military forces of Taiwan." It also calls for American and Taiwanese officials to conduct appropriate exchanges, and to expand cooperation in military cybersecurity.

Su Tzu-yun
Institute for National Defense Security Research
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act includes a great number of items that support Taiwan. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has expressed dissatisfaction over the bill, which may likely lead to Chinese military intimidation. However, the bill is proof that Chinese threats conversely result in greater international support for Taiwan, which means Beijing loses more than it gains.

China continues to react aggressively toward any acts of support for Taiwan. But the more threatening China becomes, the more support Taiwan gains from the international community.

8架次中機"抵近24浬線" 國防部首度公開證實

2023-06-25

中國解放軍8架殲-10戰機，週六越過海峽中線，逼近24浬處，離台灣本島只有40多公里，對此國軍除了廣播驅離，也以防空飛彈追監，中科院研製的天弓三飛彈發射車，就被發現在屏東恆春街頭移動，這也是軍方首度證實有中國軍機，抵近24浬處。

我國自製中遠程防空飛彈天弓三防空飛彈，作戰範圍約200公里，發射車被發現，現蹤屏東恆春街頭，為的是中國解放軍機，進逼我24浬。

[[聲源:國防部發言人孫立方(06.24)]]
“自今日上午8時許，國防部陸續偵獲中殲-10、殲-16等各型機計19架次，其中8架次逾越中線，並抵近24浬線，另共艦5艘配合執行聯合戰備警巡。”

根據國防部公布的航跡圖，週六共有中國的8架殲-10戰機越過海峽中線，逼近到24浬處，離台灣本島大約僅有44公里，這也是軍方首度公開證實。

[[前空軍副司令張延廷]]
“北部五縣市(北北基桃宜)，沒有任何的軍用專用機場，沒有任何的戰鬥機進駐，沒有在空機做警戒，你靠防空飛彈追監，效果非常的有限。以後我們(應該)每個月派4架F-16，或4架幻象2000或IDF，到金門或馬祖去威力偵巡，派我們的無人機，我們過海峽中線去偵巡，只要解放軍機進入我們訓練空域，我們就派飛機跟它做抵近，它抵近偵查我們就抵近攔截。”

退將喊話軍方必須更積極作為，因為台海局勢確實嚴峻，連美方也高度關注。

參院軍委會通過2024財政年度《國防授權法》，內容提到要為台灣軍隊建立全面培訓、諮詢及制度能力建構的計畫，並要求美方與台灣官員適當往來，擴大雙方在軍事網路安全活動合作。

[[國防院國防戰略與資源所長蘇紫雲]]
“美國參議院通過2024《國防授權法》，裡面有大量支持台灣的條款，習近平認為不滿，就可能利用軍事手段來展現威嚇。證明中國威脅論，反而讓台灣更獲國際支持，對北京是得不償失的。”

只要出現挺台行動，北京馬上用軍事作為反制，但越是恫嚇，美方越是強化挺台力道。

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Our mission like I said is not to convert everyone to go vegan. It is to actually educate and empower people that there is a different way to eat and you can start adapting it into their life. It will make a huge impact. I think that is the first thing people can do is like if you feel some kind of want. That you want to contribute. First, start with your diet. And then, you can start talking about plastics, energy, and all these kinds of things.

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It is not explicitly California style. You can see little speckled things of Mexican inspiration and Vietnamese inspiration, which are large communities in Southern California. Our tendency is to use avocado and pico de gallo. Otherwise, it is a meld just like how our lives have been, very international.

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I read a book right before we met backpacking called "Eating Animals." He refused to read it because he could already hear the stories that I was recounting to him and it was already affecting him so much. He was just like, "I don’t need to read it. " But after I read the book, I could not think about meat or eat meat. It would just cause me to come into tears. I quickly made the decision that I didn’t want to eat any more animal products right before we went backpacking. When we came back to Taiwan it was really difficult to find convenient spaces, to find and really understand and know where your food was coming from.

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Spencer Hudson
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We made massive changes because people couldn’t come in. There were some systemic changes that lasted beyond just COVID. One of the biggest changes was that food delivery became the way people ate. We had months where tomatoes quadrupled in price. Obviously, typhoons and things impacted that. Food prices had crept up significantly. We had that, we had commission and COVID. So it just became there wasn’t a way of dealing with it. It was just about surviving. The way to deal with it was for us to close our most expensive place.

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If we look at it in a positive light, this indicator can certainly help us understand the performance of various universities around the world with various quantitative data. But these statistics also have their limitations. The indicators may not be able to reflect the value that universities have in promoting social progress.

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Huang I-chang
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I think there are more opportunities overseas, so you’re not confined to Taiwan. Another reason for going abroad is that it can be used as a springboard, so that you can have work opportunities in America.

Tsai Wei-an
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I want to better understand Taiwan, and I want to put it in a larger structure and in a bigger map, so I can see it more clearly. I also want to know other people’s views and how they see Taiwan. That’s why I decided to leave Taiwan, so the ranking was not a deciding factor for me.

Many Taiwanese students who study abroad say that the bigger job market and the more liberal environment overseas are the reasons behind their decision to study abroad, and that university rankings are not so important. So why have Taiwan’s universities fallen behind others? Experts say that unlike the top institutions overseas, Taiwan’s universities cater mostly to undergraduates and lack graduate students who conduct research. This has led to the less-than-stellar evaluations of their research capacities.

Huang I-chang
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Today, in our spotlight story, we’re meeting a mixed-media artist couple, Chiu Chieh-sen and Margot Guillemot. After the husband-and-wife met at university in Guillemot’s native France, the two decided to relocate to Taiwan to work. Many of their works explore urban landscapes and redefine geographical and temporal boundaries. FTV reporter Stephany Yang caught up with the duo to find out more about their works.

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It looks like a comic that shows us the everyday life of Taoyuan’s city and streets. That was something that was very interesting for me because I felt that the street life and the street organization is very different from the one I was seeing everyday in France. It was something that I felt very inspiring.

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In French, we have a saying that is "Poser ses valises" which means put our luggage down. It means deciding to leave somewhere. When I put my luggage down means like I arrived at home. I decided to live in the place. This is the inspiration. I had help from Chieh-sen along the way to understand some kind of translate things and translate the way of living in Taiwan. I would say the process of coming and living in Taiwan and integrate into Taiwanese society has been quite smooth.But indeed, the language was a bit of a learning curve. I went from maybe knowing how to say "Hello and goodbye" to maybe be able to count a few numbers, to the Chinese level I have now.

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I use my work to actually understand the place I am living in. Through technologies, through images, digital images, and different perspectives, my own eye, my own body into space, and I can go and walk into space to make observations. At the same time, I can use other technology devices to take images maybe from the sky with a drone or maybe with cameras that can go higher than me.

Guillemot is currently pursuing her PhD in Taiwan and hopes to continue exploring contemporary digital technology and art. She says her goal is to continue mastering her craft and mentor younger artists.

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