China's aircraft carrier group enters western Pacific — Taiwan Agence France-Presse

Handout / Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense / AFP TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan said Thursday that a Chinese flotilla led by the Shandong aircraft carrier had entered the Pacific Ocean via the Bashi Channel, a waterway that separates the island from the Philippines. Democratic Taiwan has seen a ramp-up in military and political pressures in recent years from Beijing, which considers the island its territory and has vowed to seize it one day -- by force if necessary. Taipei's Ministry of National Defense reports near-daily warplane incursions by the Chinese military, which in the past year has carried out massive wargame exercises around Taiwan's waters. On Thursday the ministry said that China's "Shandong Carrier Strike Group crossed the Bashi Channel today and entered the Western Pacific". Taiwan's military has "monitored the situation and tasked appropriate forces to respond", it said. Earlier in the day, the ministry said it had detected 15 Chinese warplanes crossing the median line bisecting the Taiwan Strait -- a 180-kilometre (110-mile) waterway separating the island from China -- between the hours of 6:00 am to 12:00 pm (2200 GMT Wednesday to 0400 GMT Thursday). "The aircraft... conducted joint combat patrol with (People's Liberation Army Navy) vessels," it said in an announcement. Taiwan's defense minister earlier this month said that China had stepped up "military intimidation" on the island by flying an increased number of warplanes around it. The island detected a "recent high" of 103 Chinese warplanes in September, as well as nine navy ships. The ministry had decried China's "military harassment", saying it could "lead to a sharp escalation in tension and worsen regional security".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more