Taiwan has full grasp of China's military movements: official

ROC Central News Agency

2016/12/20 20:04:25

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has a full grasp of China's military activity, has made proper preparations, and has complete response measures in place, a Presidential Office spokesman said Tuesday.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is also fully aware of the situation, according to office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺).

However, Huang declined to disclose details of the president's weekly meetings with top defense and security officials.

He was responding to a media report that the military conducted a joint air defense drill Dec. 10, immediately after Chinese military aircraft were detected near Taiwan's air defense identification zone that day, for the second time in two weeks.

The decision to conduct the drill was made in a meeting between Tsai and Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) Dec. 7, and was intended to show that Taiwan's military is on top of China's military activity, according to the report.

Also during that meeting, Tsai directed the MND to release to the public information on Chinese military exercises near Taiwanese waters or air space at an appropriate time to avoid unnecessary speculation, the report said.

(By Sophia Yeh and Y.F. Low)
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