2023-06-03 11:13:49
He Taiwan Ministry of Defense has warned of a new overflight of Chinese planes near the island, which is interpreted as a reaction after the arrival of misiles Stinger provided by the United States to the island. Taipei It claims to have detected nine fighters and six Chinese Army warships in its vicinity. Two of the planes have crossed the airspace, so the Taiwanese Armed Forces have monitored the situation and responded with the deployment of aircraft, boats and land missile systems, as published by the Ministry of Defense on its Twitter account.
The escalation of tensions in the region began with the trip to the island of the then president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosiin August last year, and the situation has worsened after the visit of the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing Wen, to the North American country, where he met several US congressmen despite warnings from Beijing. The last stone in the way of Beijing has been the shipment of military material to the island this week.
Taiwan has just received the first batch of FIM-92 air defense missiles Stinger the EEUU as part of a $500 million military aid package, news that did not sit well in Beijing, where it is claimed that Washington is causing increased tension in the Taiwan Strait. According to a report in the Taipei Times newspaper, it was supposed to the Stinger missiles were to be delivered at an earlier date, but the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has delayed the process.
The Taiwanese military already operates several variants of the Stinger, including the Dual Mount Stinger, the Avenger weapon system mounted on Humvee and the air-dropped configuration for Apache attack helicopters. Developed by Raytheon Missiles & Defense, the Stinger missile is a lightweight, self-contained air defense system designed for rapid deployment by ground troops. It can be fired by a single operator, but military units often use a spotter for faster and more accurate target identification.
the singapore forum
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austinurged this Saturday from a security forum in Singapore his Chinese counterpart to sit down and talk to “be able to avoid miscalculations that lead to conflict”, after the refusal of beijing to a meeting between the two on the margins of the conference.
“For responsible leaders, the right time to speak is any. The right time to speak is now,” Austin said in a speech delivered at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the most important security forum in Asia (June 2-4), in which the Chinese Defense Minister, Li Shangfu, also participates.
“A handshake is not enough”Austin added, alluding to the brief greeting that the two exchanged the day before at the Dialogue’s opening dinner, after Beijing on Monday rejected Washington’s request that the defense chiefs of the two superpowers hold a bilateral meeting.
For his part, he Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese He urged dialogue as a “containment measure” in the face of a potential conflict between China and the US. “We should do everything possible to promote the first and fundamental containment measure,” Albanese emphasized during his speech at the opening of the XX Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s most important annual Advocacy forum.
The event, which brings together more than 550 delegates -including ministers, diplomats, experts and the military- from some 40 countries, It is marked by the attendance of the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, although a possible meeting between the two on the margins of the forum was rejected on Monday by Beijing.
With information from Efe and Europa Press
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