Military fully grasps cross-strait situation: MND
ROC Central News Agency
Taipei, July 3 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has fully grasped the cross-Taiwan Strait situation as historic direct cross-strait weekend charter flights are set to begin, Vice Defense Minister Lin Chen-yi said Thursday.
The MND has kept fully abreast of the movements of the Chinese military and will continue to monitor it closely in the face of closer exchanges across the strait, Lin said at the Legislative Yuan National Defense Committee.
Lin described the armed forces as "calm outside, but tense inside, " at a time when increased numbers of weekend flights are set to shuttle across the strait from Friday.
He made the remarks in response to opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Twu Shing-jer, who inquired whether the MND has fully grasped the cross-strait situation and whether it believes that a "Trojan Horse" incident will occur when dozens of Chinese charter flights are flying directly into Taiwan.
Twu quoted a local newspaper report as saying recently that 15 People's Liberation Army jet fighters had conducted a war game drill under the coverage of several civilian passenger planes.
Lin answered that the military investigated the report and discovered that the drill was aimed at honing the Chinese military's ability to fight terrorism in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.
Lin added that the armed forces are fully prepared and will stand by for any contingency or challenge that might arise in the face of the launch of the direct weekend cross-strait charter flights. (By Deborah Kuo) ENDITEM/J
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