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Tsai visits Penghu military sites following record nearby PLA activity

ROC Central News Agency

12/30/2022 09:20 PM

Taipei, Dec. 30 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Friday visited several military bases on the island county of Penghu in the wake of record Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) activity in the vicinity of Taiwan.

Accompanied by national security officials and high-ranking officers of the Ministry of National Defense (MND), Tsai went to Xiyu Township to visit the Army's elite 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, a naval base housing anti-ship missiles, and a Navy-administered radar facility.

She later also visited the Navy's 146th Fleet, which patrols in the Taiwan Strait, at a naval base in Magong City, where she expressed gratitude to all the military personnel posted on Penghu for fulfilling their duties in the face of drills around Taiwan by multiple PLA warplanes and naval vessels.

According to the MND, a total of 71 Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels were detected around Taiwan from 6 a.m. on Dec. 25 to 6 a.m. on Dec. 26, marking the most PLA sorties within a 24-hour span so far this year.

Among them, 47 aircraft were spotted either crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entering Taiwan's southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the MND said.

Tsai called for the military's continued efforts to strengthen its self-defense in order to effectively safeguard the nation and protect national interests.

The president said that Taiwan, standing on the front line of the democratic defense against authoritarian regimes seeking to disrupt regional stability, must prepare for war so as to prevent entering one.

"I want to stress again that preservation of peace depends on strong national defense," Tsai said while pledging to ramp up efforts to bolster Taiwan's defense capabilities.

She added that the government's recent decisions to extend compulsory military service from four months to one year and roll out reforms to intensify the troops' training were part of those efforts.

(By Matt Yu and Teng Pei-ju)

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