NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hsinci, Taiwan:
A Taiwan Air Force officer on Wednesday revealed details of a rare conversation between the island’s military and NATO, detailing how he attended a six-month educational program with senior officers in Italy.
Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has no formal diplomatic relations with any NATO member, but has close defense ties with the United States, the island’s main international source of arms and NATO’s The largest member state is
Speaking to reporters on a visit to the Hsinchu airport in northern Taiwan, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Wu Bong-yeng said he had attended a six-month course at the NATO Defense College in Rome in 2021, which ended in January last year. returned to Taiwan.
“It was an academic exchange, not a military exchange,” he said. “Of course they were very curious about Taiwan.”
“They need to understand the situation in our country and our capabilities,” he said.
NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Taiwan’s defense ministry told Reuters that Wu was not the first officer it sent to the defense college. It was not explained in detail.
While Taiwanese and US forces cooperate, including the training of some Taiwanese fighter pilots in the United States, the island has limited contact with other foreign forces.
In its new strategic concept, approved in June, NATO described China as a challenge to the “interests, security and values” of the alliance, as an economic and military power that is “recognized by its strategy, intentions and military build-up”. remains opaque”.
China has increased its military, political and economic pressure on the island over the past three years to assert its sovereignty claims, which Taiwan strongly rejects.
Taiwan has vowed to defend itself and has said that only the people of Taiwan can decide their own future.
On Sunday, China again conducted maneuvers near Taiwan, the second time it has done so in less than a month. In August, China staged massive war games around Taiwan, prompting anger when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
Hsinchu, known internationally as a semiconductor production hub, is home to one of the island’s most important air bases, with responsibility for the defense of Taiwan’s north.
The Defense Ministry said flying exercises involving French-made Mirage jets of the Air Force were conducted in front of the media on Wednesday as part of routine exercises.
Taiwan’s air force is well-trained but dwarfed by China’s, and has come under strain from repeated scrambles to see almost daily incursions by Chinese jets near the island and into its air defense zone.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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