Defense

Twelve domestic and foreign companies participated in a drone technology exhibition in Yilan on Tuesday, as Taiwan's defense ministry-affiliated institution urged their involvement in national defense, to strengthen deterrence capability against China.

Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine the Narwhal began sea trials Tuesday as it sailed out of the Port of Kaohsiung, according to a military source.

Fifty-one percent of Taiwanese support increasing Taiwan's defense budget, including 44 percent in favor of a "significant increase," a recent survey commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) has found.

Taiwan's Air Force said Thursday that it was investigating the accidental firing of a flare from one of its Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jets the previous day.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Thursday that a large number of Chinese military aircraft were detected near Taiwan on Wednesday, during a "joint combat readiness patrol" drill held by China.

The United States and Taiwan have been unusually quiet over the most recent passage of an American Navy warship through the Taiwan Strait that began late Tuesday evening, Taiwan time.

Sixty-two active-duty military officers and soldiers currently hold a residence permit issued by the Chinese government and cannot do jobs related to collecting intelligence and confidential data, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said Wednesday.

China's latest round of military exercises near Taiwan at the beginning of April was intended to show it could organize large-scale drills despite an ongoing military purge, Taiwan's top intelligence chief said Wednesday.

Taiwan's Han Kuang exercises, its largest annual military drills, began Saturday, with experts saying that the extended 14 days of wargames reflected a response to China's increasing "gray zone" activities and its potential to carry out a full-scale invasion of Taiwan.

China dispatched 82 warplanes and vessels to areas near Taiwan on Wednesday, the last day of its most recent military exercises in the region, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.