U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently interviewed by Japanese media pointed out that as long as regional tensions can be eased, the United States will find ways to provide defense to Taiwan, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Yan De Fat said that Taiwan’s security has to rely on themselves, and demonstrated the determination of self-defense.
The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was asked in an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the sidelines of four-way talks with the foreign ministers of Japan, India, and Australia whether the U.S. would provide defense if China attacked Taiwan. He said, “As long as we can reduce tensions in the region, the U.S. will do everything possible to do so.”
In response, Taiwan’s Minister of National Defense Yan De-Fa said in a media interview in the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday that Taiwan’s security depends mainly on itself and “its own country saves itself.
He said, “Our national defense and security should be built on our own strength, so in this area we will strengthen our ability to defend our operations, as well as demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves.”
Minister Yen added that, after all, only those who help themselves will be helped by others, and that Taiwan will work with like-minded countries as long as it contributes to regional peace and stability.
The U.S. has been Taiwan’s most important source of military purchases, and Reuters recently reported that the U.S. plans to sell Taiwan weapons, including mines, cruise missiles and drones, so that Taiwan can be as difficult to attack as a hedgehog. Taiwan’s famous military experts, former KMT legislator Lin Yu-fang said, these advanced weapons systems, will greatly enhance Taiwan’s defense capabilities.
Taiwan’s “Free Times” reported, the Chinese Communist Party military aircraft from mid-September to date continued to raid Taiwan’s airspace, Taiwan’s military aircraft early Wednesday morning in the southwest airspace for broadcast dispersal, a rare response, “Taiwan, please do not interfere with my routine training. At the same time, there were three U.S. Air Force KC135 refueling tankers outside the airspace, returning from the South China Sea via the Bus Strait to their base in Kadena, Okinawa.
Minister Yan pointed out that he hoped that the other side of the Taiwan Strait would exercise restraint in the raids and incursions of military aircraft in the airspace southwest of Taiwan, and that both sides would work together to maintain peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and would not change or disrupt the status quo.
Minister Yan also mentioned that so far this year, 217 common aircraft have invaded Taiwan’s airspace and the Taiwan Air Force has launched 2,972 sorties for surveillance and interception, at a cost of approximately NT$25.5 billion (approximately RMB 6 billion).
Chen Yixin, a member of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan and a member of the opposition Kuomintang Party Standing Committee, said that once a crisis breaks out in the Taiwan Strait, time will be very short, and whether the U.S. military will be able to rush to the rescue in time is the key to the problem.
He said, “So for the security of Taiwan, we really can’t completely rely on other people’s assistance, we must be self-reliant and self-reliant.”
Chen also pointed out that while the current progress in U.S.-Taiwan relations has positively helped Taiwan’s national defense confidence and energy, it is not a 100 percent guarantee; more importantly, the government’s policy is to avoid war and return cross-strait relations to a peaceful and stable situation, which is the greatest guarantee of national security.
Taiwan’s Naval Command has announced that it will intensively implement an “air layer airspace” special exercise in the southwest coast this month.
In this regard, another member of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan, the ruling party’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Zhao Tianlin said that there is an action there is a reaction, Taiwan’s military related drills are necessary to guard the airspace and territory of the defense, in fact, the communist aircraft provocation is not only Taiwan, but also Japan and Vietnam and other countries.
It is hoped that China will do its duty as a great power and stop its militaristic behavior.
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