PINGTUNG, Taiwan: Tanks pounded targets and fighter jets roared overhead on Wednesday as Taiwan’s military carried out its latest combat drills after weeks of saber-rattling by giant neighbor China.
China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has been holding exercises around the island since a visit to Taipei last month by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Taiwan, which rejects China’s sovereignty claims, has repeatedly stressed its calm reaction to Beijing’s activities, but that it also has the resolve and ability to defend itself if needed.
“Ground combat readiness training is an essential duty of the armed forces and is also something that we have to do each day and every moment,” defense ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters on a government-organized visit to Pingtung in Taiwan’s far south to see the drills.
“Regarding defense operations in Taiwan and its outlying islands, we conduct our exercises with the attitude of reacting to threats according to terrain and being able to fight everywhere to complete our duty of increasing war preparedness,” he added.
Taiwan’s armed forces are well-equipped but dwarfed by China’s. President Tsai Ing-wen has been overseeing a modernization program and has made increasing defense spending a priority.
Taiwan military shows off its mettle with latest combat drills
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Taiwan military shows off its mettle with latest combat drills
- Taiwan’s armed forces are well-equipped but dwarfed by China’s
- President Tsai Ing-wen has been overseeing a modernization program
M23 rebel spokesperson killed in Congo army drone strike, officials say
- M23 controls large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces
- The attack happened near Rubaya, in North Kivu
DAKAR: The military spokesperson for the M23 rebel group, Willy Ngoma, was killed in an army drone strike in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, a regional diplomat, a senior rebel official and a Western adviser to the government said.
The killing comes as Qatar-mediated ceasefire efforts continue, with Kinshasa and M23 having signed agreements in Doha to establish a joint ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism involving Qatar, the United States and the African Union as observers.
M23, which the United Nations says is backed by Rwanda, controls large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces after a rapid offensive last year in which the rebels seized the strategic cities of Goma and Bukavu.
The attack happened near Rubaya, in North Kivu, at around 3 a.m. (0100 GMT), and came after several days of sustained drone attacks on the area by the Congolese army, the senior M23 official told Reuters.
Rubaya is a strategic coltan-mining hub that produces around 15 percent of the world’s supply, making it a key financial stronghold for the M23 rebels. A spokesperson for the Congolese presidency declined to comment and a spokesperson for Congo’s army did not immediately respond.
