Anonymous source quoted by NYT claims Taipei would retaliate after Chinese attack by striking Fujian Province

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/10
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Tuesday (Sept. 10) issued a statement critical of a story in The New York Times that falsely alleged that the MND would make a counter-attack targeting China’s Fujian Province in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

The original article, titled “This is How a War With China Could Begin,” was published by The New York Times (NYT) on Sept. 5 and authored by journalist Nicholas Kristof. In the article, a source is mentioned who claims that the MND has a counteroffensive contingency plan to attack China’s shores in response to a People's Liberation Army attack on the island.

The claim was included in the article following a statement from Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu in which Wu said that Taiwan’s military is planning "for defense and offense.” The structure of the paragraph might lead readers to believe that Wu’s use of the word “offense” indicates plans for a missile strike on Fujian.

The MND declared on Tuesday that the reported statement is false and that the ministry has no such provisional “offensive plans” to launch “air strikes on Fujian Province” as the NYT article suggested. The portion of the NYT article in question was as follows.    [FULL  STORY]