Taiwan Showcases Advanced Fighter Jet F-16V After Communist China drills

Taiwan unveiled its most advanced fighter jet, US-made F-16V in the wake of China’s unprecedented military drills around the island.

Using Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit as an excuse, Communist China has launched high-level military drills both on land and at sea. Taiwan’s military said it needs to remain “vigilant” against the threat from “Chinese communist forces’ recent military exercises”.

During the Military drill on Wednesday August 17th, Taiwan air force personnel loaded an F-16V fighter jet with a US-made anti-ship missile in a “combat readiness” exercise at an airbase in eastern Hualien. At the same night, six F-16Vs took off for night reconnaissance and training missions.The F-16Vs were first deployed in Taiwan November last year as Communist China continued to send warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence zone. The new F-16V is upgraded version of the F-16 fighter jet.Communist China considers Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has threatened to take by force if necessary. In a white paper released earlier this month, Communist Party reiterated that it will “not renounce the use of force” against Taiwan.

Taiwan said it will continue to resist Communist Party’s attempts as Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-Chang said the country “shouldn’t be too afraid to do anything”. This week, senior US Congress members’ two-day visit to Taiwan and Taiwan President Tsai’s push for “prosperity and stability of the Indo-Pacific region” further increased tensions with Communist Party.

President Tsai was cited for saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “the threat that authoritarian states pose to the world order” referencing the Communist China.