The Straits Times
Date: August 30, 2020
Rockets being launched from a domestically manufactured multiple rocket system and two US-made AH-64E attack helicopters (above) releasing flares during a Taiwanese military drill in Taichung last month. The exercises aimed to demonstrate how Taiwan’s military would repel an invasion from China.PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Jets, helicopters and artillery and missile batteries fired live ammunition at targets offshore, sending plumes of sea spray into the air. Then, a few hours later, a military helicopter taking part in the same exercise crashed at an airfield farther up the coast, killing two pilots and casting a shadow over the show of force.
It was the latest in a string of deadly mishaps, including a crash in January that killed the military's top commander, which have given new urgency to the debate over Taiwan's readiness to defend its 24 million people – with or without the help of the United States.
"I have to be honest: Taiwan's military needs to improve a lot," Mr Wang Ting-yu, a member of the Parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, said in a telephone interview.
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