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JIADONG, Taiwan , Sep 15 (AP) \u2014 An F-16 screeched across the sky then landed among pineapple fields in southwestern Taiwan to quickly refuel before taking off again.<\/p>\n
A Taiwanese-made Indigenous Defensive Fighter, U.S.-made F-16V, French-made Mirage 2000-5 and an E-2K early warning aircraft landed on a highway surrounded by farm fields in Jiadong early Wednesday morning \u2014 simulating what they would do if their air base was damaged by enemy forces.<\/p>\n
The simulation is part of Taiwan\u2019s five-day Han Guang military exercise designed to prepare the island\u2019s forces for an attack by China, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory. The annual exercise was smaller this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n
In the last two years, the threat from China has risen, as the People\u2019s Liberation Army flies fighter jets towards Taiwan on a near-daily basis in an effort to intimidate and harass the island\u2019s air forces.<\/p>\n
In August, Chinese fighter jets, anti-submarine aircraft and combat ships conducted joint assault drills near Taiwan with China saying the exercise was necessary to safeguard its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Many experts do not believe the increased military activity will lead to war.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a type of gray zone tactic \u2014 military intimidation,\u201d said Ou Xifu, a researcher at Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, referring to actions below direct warfare. \u201cThis shouldn\u2019t lead to war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taiwan has focused on stepping up its defense capabilities in response to the rise in tensions and military harassment. President Tsai Ing-wen has directed money and resources to have the island manufacture its own defense vessels, such as its first homemade submarine, as well as warships.<\/p>\n
In the last two years, Taiwan also stepped up purchases from the U.S. of weapons from missiles to aircraft.<\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s defense ministry submitted a new budget of $16.8 billion for the next year, a modest increase from last year\u2019s $16.19 billion. Some of the funds are to purchase 66 F-16V fighter jets, according to the semi-official Central News Agency.<\/p>\n
China has said its actions are in response to interference from abroad, with U.S. support for Taiwan rising in recent years and the U.S. military conducting movements in the sensitive waters surrounding Taiwan.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for China\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office said to Taiwan\u2019s ruling party on Wednesday, \u201cyou have no way to change the historical and legal truth that Taiwan is a part of China.\u201d<\/p>\n
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JIADONG, Taiwan , Sep 15 (AP) \u2014 An F-16 screeched across the sky then landed among pineapple fields in southwestern Taiwan to quickly refuel before taking off again. A Taiwanese-made Indigenous Defensive Fighter, U.S.-made F-16V, French-made Mirage 2000-5 and an E-2K early warning aircraft landed on a highway surrounded by farm fields in Jiadong early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-171835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}