MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2023) The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Thursday denied media reports about plans to exchange real-time data from naval reconnaissance drones with Japan and the United States.
"The MND has not yet been informed of plans to share real-time data from naval reconnaissance drones with the US and Japan as has been reported by some media outlets. We would like to kindly request that due diligence be exercised in verifying the source of information to prevent misleading the public," the ministry said on Twitter.
The Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the project, that the US, Japan and Taiwan had plans to exchange real-time data from naval reconnaissance drones to get an overall picture in case of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. US defense corporation General Atomics was planning to supply four MQ-9 Sea Guardian reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles, which are capable of tracking and targeting vessels and radars and providing a real-time picture of the movements of China's navy in the island chain stretching from Japan to the Philippines, the report said.
The media quoted a senior US military official as saying that the sharing of data between "Japan and Taiwan, between Taiwan and the Philippines, between the US and all three of them, is so crucial, but it's also one of the big taboos because China will see it as escalatory." Washington was also planning to allow the integration of its aircraft into the same system that the US and Japanese forces were set to use in the region, the report said.
The situation around Taiwan escalated again after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in April, with Beijing launching massive three-day military drills near the island in what it called a "warning" to Taiwanese separatists and foreign powers.
Taiwan has been governed independently of mainland China since 1949. Beijing considers the island a province of China, while Taiwan says it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official foreign contacts with Taipei and regards Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable.
