Taiwan's annual war games cut back by incoming Typhoon Carina --- Agence France-Presse

HUALIEN, Taiwan — Taiwan cancelled some drills in its annual war games as Typhoon Gaemi (locally known in the Philippines as Carina) barrelled towards the island on Tuesday, expected to bring heavy rains and strong winds when it makes landfall later this week. The Han Kuang exercises, which started Monday, are held every year across Taiwan to train its armed forces as China ramps up military pressure on the democratic island, which Beijing claims as part of its own territory. But as Gaemi -- currently categorised as a medium-strength typhoon -- edged closer to Taiwan Tuesday, the island's northern regions started seeing heavy rains, with the Central Weather Administration predicting landfall by late Wednesday. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday at an airbase in eastern Hualien, defence ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said the military will make "flexible adjustments based on the weather conditions in our exercise missions". "At present, the impact of the typhoon is more obvious in the eastern region and we will make some adjustments to some sea and air exercises due to the typhoon situation," he said. The Central Weather Administration issued sea and land warnings on Tuesday morning, with Gaemi packing sustained wind speeds of 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour as it headed towards the island's northeastern coast. Taiwan experiences frequent tropical storms from May to November. Dressed in military fatigues, President Lai Ching-te looked on as soldiers went through a simulated mass casualty rescue exercise at the Hualien airforce base. "Proud of our troops' unwavering resolve... As guardians of democracy, your efforts are vital for national security & demonstrate our commitment to self-defense," he said in a post on social media platform X. 'Seek immediate shelter' The war games this year are a departure from previous iterations, discarding exercises that were "more for demonstration purposes" and opting instead to more realistically simulate an attack from China, the defence ministry had said. The exercises will also work on decentralising the command structure, while conducting drills around key infrastructure points -- like Taiwan's sea ports, major bridges, and airports. By afternoon, Lai arrived in New Taipei City at a port to oversee an elaborate simulation of various emergency situations as part of the annual civilian defence drills -- which run concurrently with Han Kuang. Out of his military uniform and donning a tie, the president watched a scenario whereby Chinese missiles had hit the port and its surroundings -- according to an announcer narrating over loudspeaker -- which prompted workers to evacuate civilians. Calling Taipei Port a "critical infrastructure", Lai said the scenarios "not only included the risks that the port may face at normal times, but also integrated large-scale compound disaster drills". In the capital Taipei, air raid sirens blared and staff at a train station ushered passengers out, while some people sheltering in a parking lot were told to crouch down. Taipei residents also received an automated text message that said "(Air Defense Drill) Incoming missile/rocket threat. Seek immediate shelter." Lai, who is a staunch defender of Taiwan's democracy, is regarded as a "dangerous separatist" by China. Three days after he was sworn into office in May, China launched war games simulating an encirclement of the island as "punishment" for his inauguration speech, which Beijing said was a "confession of Taiwan independence". China has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and maintains a near-daily military presence around the island by sending in warplanes, navy vessels and drones.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more