BEIJING: Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said her government has asked to purchase advanced new fighter jets and tanks from the US.
If approved, the move could set off new tensions between the US and China, which considers Taiwan its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. Speaking during a visit to Hawaii on Wednesday, Tsai said requests have been submitted for F-16V fighters and M1 Abrams tanks.
The new weaponry would “greatly enhance our land and air capabilities, strengthen military morale, and show to the world the US commitment to Taiwan’s defense,” Tsai said.
The US is Taiwan’s main supplier of defensive weapons, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. The F-16V is the most advanced version of the plane that already forms the backbone of Taiwan’s air forces, while the M1 Abrams would mark a significant upgrade from the aging, refurbished models the army now uses. Reports say Taiwan is seeking 66 of the planes.
Taiwan’s arms requests are carefully reviewed to ensure they suit “Taiwan’s actual needs,” Tsai said.
“We are also investing heavily into training as well as modernizing our defense strategies to prioritize the use of asymmetrical capabilities, so that they more closely correspond with the realities of the threat we face,” Tsai said. “Altogether, I hope that these actions will ensure that the people of Taiwan remain able to choose our own futures, free of coercion.”
Tsai, who says she will seek a second four-year term next year, said Taiwan was also stepping-up training as it prepared to transition to an all-volunteer force and pointed to three consecutive years of defense budget increases.
“These funds have been directed into programs that will make a real difference in Taiwan’s defense, including asymmetrical capabilities,” she said.
Tsai’s unofficial Hawaii visit comes at the end of a trip to the Pacific island nations of Palau, Nauru, and the Marshall Islands, three of Taiwan’s dwindling number of allies that now total just 17 as Beijing seeks to increase Taiwan’s international isolation. The sides separated amid civil war in 1949.
Beijing has cut contacts with Tsai’s government over Tsai’s refusal to endorse its claim that Taiwan is a part of China. It has also stepped up efforts at military intimidation, such as circling the island with bombers and fighters in what are officially termed training missions.
Elsewhere in remarks carried by satellite link to the conservative Washington think tank the Heritage Foundation, Tsai said she found developments in Hong Kong “deeply concerning.” China has touted Hong Kong as a future model Taiwan under what it calls “one country, two systems.”
Critics say the semi-autonomous territory’s civil liberties have been gradually eroded since it was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
“Hong Kong is a reminder that all politicians in Taiwan, regardless of politically parties, should carefully avoid falling into a trap laid by China, which includes economic incentives and other promises but ultimately leads to the same destination that is one country two system,” Tsai said.
Taiwan’s Tsai confirms request to buy new US fighters, tanks
Taiwan’s Tsai confirms request to buy new US fighters, tanks
- Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said requests have been submitted for F-16V fighters and M1 Abrams tanks
- Taiwan is stepping-up training as it prepared to transition to an all-volunteer force
Agonizing wait as Switzerland works to identify New Year’s fire victims
- Authorities begin moving bodies from burned-out bar in luxury ski resor Crans-Montana
- At least 40 people were killed in one of Switzerland's worst tragedies
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland: Families endured an agonizing wait for news of their loved ones Friday as Swiss investigators rushed to identify victims of a ski resort fire at a New Year’s celebration that killed at least 40 people.
Authorities began moving bodies from the burned-out bar in the luxury ski resort town Crans-Montana late Friday morning, with the first silver-colored hearse rolling into the funeral center in nearby Sion shortly after 11:00 am (1000 GMT), AFP journalists saw.
Around 115 people were also injured in the fire, many of them critical condition.
As the scope of the tragedy — one of Switzerland’s worst — began to sink in, Crans-Montana appeared enveloped in a stunned silence.
“The atmosphere is heavy,” Dejan Bajic, a 56-year-old tourist from Geneva who has been coming to the resort since 1974, told AFP.
“It’s like a small village; everyone knows someone who knows someone who’s been affected,” he said.
It is not yet clear what set off the blaze at Le Constellation, a bar popular with young tourists, at around 1:30 am (0030 GMT) Thursday.
Bystanders described scenes of panic and chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.
‘Screaming in pain’
Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he had seen “bodies lying here, ... covered with a white sheet,” and “young people, totally burned, who were still alive... Screaming in pain.”
The exact death toll was still being established.
And it could rise, with canton president Mathias Reynard telling the regional newspaper Wallizer Bote that at least 80 of the 115 injured were in critical condition.
Swiss authorities warned it could take days to identify everyone who perished, an agonizing wait for family and friends.
Condolences poured in from around the world, including from Pope Leo XIV, who offered “compassion and solidarity” to victims’ families.
Online, desperate appeals abound to find the missing.
“We’ve tried to reach our friends. We took loads of photos and posted them on Instagram, Facebook, all possible social networks to try to find them,” said Eleonore, 17. “But there’s nothing. No response.”
‘The apocalypse’
The exact number of people who were at the bar when it went up in flames remains unclear.
Le Constellation had a capacity of 300 people, plus another 40 people on its terrace, according to the Crans-Montana website.
Swiss President Guy Parmelin, who took office on Thursday, called the fire “a calamity of unprecedented, terrifying proportions” and announced that flags would be flown at half-mast for five days.
“We thought it was just a small fire — but when we got there, it was war,” Mathys, from the neighboring village of Chermignon-d’en-Bas, told AFP. “That’s the only word I can use to describe it: the apocalypse.”
Authorities have declined to speculate on what caused the tragedy, saying only that it was not an attack.
Several witness accounts, broadcast by various media, pointed to sparklers mounted on champagne bottles and held aloft by restaurant staff as part of a regular “show” for patrons.
‘Dramatic’
Pictures and videos shared on social media also showed sparklers on champagne bottles held into the air, as an orange glow began spreading across the ceiling.
One video showed the flames advancing quickly as revellers initially continued to dance.
One young man playfully attempted to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth, but the scene became panic-stricken as people scrambled and screamed in the dark against a backdrop of smoke and flames.
The canton’s chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, said investigators would examine whether the bar met safety standards.
Red and white caution tape, flowers and candles adorned the street outside, while police shielded the site with white screens.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said 13 Italians had been injured in the fire, and six remained missing, was among those to lay flowers at the site.
The French foreign ministry said nine French citizens figured among the injured, and eight others remained unaccounted for.
After emergency units at local hospitals filled, many of the injured were transported across Switzerland and beyond.
Patients are being treated in Italy, France and Germany, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country was ready to provide “specialized medical care to 14 injured.”
Multiple sources told AFP the bar owners were French nationals: a couple originally from Corsica who, according to a relative, are safe, but have been unreachable since the tragedy.
