TAIPEI: Taiwan’s defense ministry said Tuesday it had detected 23 Chinese aircraft around the island in a window of less than three hours.
China maintains a near-daily military presence around self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
“Since 8:20 a.m. (0020 GMT), we have successively detected a total of 23 aircraft... including 16 that crossed the median line,” the defense ministry said, referring to a line bisecting the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from China.
The ministry statement, issued at 10:40 a.m., said that the aircraft included fighter jets, transport aircraft and drones.
Taiwan’s “military is using joint intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance methods to closely monitor the situation.”
Tuesday’s surge comes after China sent in 19 aircraft, eight naval vessels, and four Chinese coast guard ships around Taiwan within a 24-hour period ending at 6 am Tuesday, according to Taipei’s daily report.
Tensions on the strait have been ramped up since the May 20 inauguration of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te.
China said his inauguration speech — in which he vowed to defend Taiwan’s democracy and freedom — was akin to a “confession of Taiwan independence.”
Three days later it launched war games around Taiwan, encircling the island with warplanes and ships as a “punishment” for “separatist acts.”
China has said it would never renounce the use of force to take control of Taiwan.
Taiwan detects 23 Chinese aircraft around the island
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Taiwan detects 23 Chinese aircraft around the island
- China maintains a near-daily military presence around self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory
- China has said it would never renounce the use of force to take control of Taiwan
Ireland’s defense gaps exposed as EU presidency nears
- Militarily neutral Ireland is not a NATO member, yet its waters — seven times its landmass — account for around 16 percent of the EU’s total
THE CURRAGH: Sheep amble around steel fences skirting Ireland’s largest military base on a grassy plain west of Dublin, a bucolic scene masking an underfunded defense force struggling with outdated equipment.
Ireland’s threadbare military and its long-standing policy of neutrality are under heightened scrutiny as the country prepares to assume the rotating EU presidency from July.
“Ireland is the only EU country with no primary radar system, nor have we sonar or anti-drone detection equipment — let alone the ability to disable drones,” said former Irish special forces member Cathal Berry.
“We can’t even monitor the airspace over our capital city and main airport,” he said as he surveyed Ireland’s main military base at The Curragh.
Militarily neutral Ireland is not a NATO member, yet its waters — seven times its landmass — account for around 16 percent of the EU’s total.
Nearly three-quarters of transatlantic subsea cables run close to or beneath them.
But the Irish army numbers only a few thousand troops, is focused largely on UN peacekeeping missions and has neither a combat air force nor a sizeable navy.
Ireland’s annual defense spending of roughly €1.2 billion is the lowest in Europe at around 0.2 percent of the GDP, well below the EU average of 1.3.
“Neutrality itself is actually a fine policy. If you want to have it, it must be defended,” said retired Irish army colonel Dorcha Lee.
“That’s the whole point. Undefended neutrality is absolutely definitely not the way to go.”
Berry points to a long-standing “complacency” about defense in Ireland that has fueled a vacuum in debate over neutrality and military spending.
“If you wanted to squeeze the EU without any risk of NATO retaliation, Ireland is where you’d come,” he said, adding that also applied to US interests in Europe.
US tech giants like Google, Apple and Meta have their European headquarters in Ireland, supported by vast data centers that analysts say are vulnerable to cyberattacks.
European Council President Antonio Costa said he was still “confident” Ireland could protect EU summits during its presidency.
Defense Minister Helen McEntee has pledged that new counter-drone technology will be in place by then.
Speaking in front of a row of aging army vehicles at the Curragh military site, she also announced a broader increase in military spending, although the actual details remain unclear.
On Dec. 17, the Irish government said it plans to buy a military radar system from France at a reported cost of between €300 and €500 million (around $350-$585 million).
For Paul Murphy, a left-wing opposition member of parliament, “scaremongering over allegedly Russian drones with concrete evidence still unprovided” is
giving the government cover to steer Ireland away from neutrality toward NATO.
“But it’s more important than ever that we’re genuinely neutral in a world that is increasingly dangerous,” he told AFP.
Ireland has historically prioritized economic and social spending over defense investment, he said.
“Joining an arms race that Ireland cannot compete in would waste money that should be spent on real priorities like climate change,” he added.
Pro-neutrality sentiment still holds sway among the Irish public, with an Irish Times/Ipsos poll earlier this year finding 63 percent of voters remained in favor of it.
And very few voices in Ireland are calling to join NATO.
Left-winger Catherine Connolly, who won Ireland’s presidential election in October by a landslide, is seen as a pacifist.
“I will be a voice for peace, a voice that builds on our policy of neutrality,” she said in her victory speech.
