Tag: islands

Chinese TB-001 drone flies around Taiwan in rare encirclement, says island’s military

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A Chinese combat drone that state media says can carry a heavy weapons payload has flown around Taiwan, according to the island’s defence ministry.
The ministry said a TB-001 drone was one of 19 military aircraft that had entered the island’s air defence identification zone in 24 hours.
It flew around Taiwan, first crossing the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, then up the east of Taiwan before crossing back towards the Chinese coast.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regularly sends aircraft into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, but full circuits around the island are extremely rare.
Chinese state media has referred to the TB-001 as the “twin-tailed scorpion” and has shown pictures of it with missiles under its wings, saying it is capable of high-altitude, long-range missions.
China’s air force has flown what it calls “island encirclement” missions with the nuclear-capable H-6 bomber.
No shots were fired and Chinese aircraft have not flown in Taiwan’s airspace. The ADIZ, is a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols to give its forces more time to respond to threats.
China has increased military pressure on democratically governed Taiwan over the past three years as it tries to force Taipei to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claims. Taiwan’s government rejects being part of China and says only the island’s people can decide their future.

This month China staged war games around Taiwan after the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, met with Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the US House of Representatives, in Los Angeles.
The drills included deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group led by the Shandong, one of China’s two aircraft carriers. Japan’s defence ministry, which also monitors activity in the region, this week said the Shandong ran a record 620 fighter jet launches across 18 days in April.
Chinese military aircraft have since 2022 regularly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which serves as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, though China says it does not recognise this.
Thursday’s sorties included fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft, many of which crossed the media line. Taiwan’s defence ministry also detected six PLA ships, but did not give locations. It said defence aircraft, navy vessels, and land-based missile systems had been “tasked in response”, a usual reaction to the PLA’s ADIZ incursions.
With Reuters
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 28, 2023
New Zealand: Tsunami likely as 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Kermadec Islands

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Kermadec Islands: An earthquake of magnitude 7.1 hit the Kermadec Islands region in New Zealand on Thursday morning.
As per the USGS statement, tsunami waves are likely to hit the costs located within 300 km of the epicenter of the earthquake. However, there is no threat to Australia.
On the other hand, National Emergency Management Agency said there was no tsunami threat for New Zealand.
There is no tsunami threat to New Zealand following the M7.0 earthquake in the Southern Kermadec Islands.
Remember, if an earthquake is long or strong, get gone.
For more info about tsunami preparedness go to https://t.co/Gn7YO8831i
— National Emergency Management Agency (@NZcivildefence) March 16, 2023
The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) tweeted that an earthquake occurred on Thursday at around 6:25 am IST and it has a depth of 41 km.
New Zealand witnesses many tremors annually
New Zealand is situated at the convergence of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates, making it susceptible to earthquakes.
Additionally, it falls on the periphery of the Ring of Fire, a region of heightened seismic activity.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 16, 2023
Japan sees its number of islands double after recount

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It can’t be easy keeping count of the number of islands scattered around an area of more than 370,000 square kilometres, in a country that is regularly subjected to volcanic activity and extreme weather.
While Japan has seen the formation of new islands, and the quiet disappearance of another, geographers have said official statistics showing it is made up of around 6,000 islands are way off the mark.
Using digital mapping technology, geographers will soon announce that Japan’s island count is actually double the previously recognised number, according to media reports.
In the first survey of its kind for 35 years, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan has totted up a total of 14,125 islands – 7,273 more than previously thought.
The government body, which is due to release its findings within the next few weeks, said the new information was unlikely to change the size of Japan’s territory or territorial waters, according to the Kyodo news agency.
The authority launched the new study following criticism that the previous data were out of date, meaning the actual number of islands could be dramatically higher.
An MP from the ruling Liberal Democratic party called for a recount, telling parliament in 2021 that “an accurate understanding of the number of islands … was in the national interest”.
In the last survey, released in 1987 by the coast guard, paper maps were used to tally islands – defined as land masses with a circumference of at least 100 metres – resulting in the previously accepted figure of 6,852.

In the most recent study, officials used the same size criterion, but counted islands using digitised maps and cross-referenced the information with past aerial photographs and other data to exclude artificially reclaimed land, Kyodo said.
Some of Japan’s 47 prefectures comprise huge numbers of islands. The northern prefecture of Hokkaido – one of the four main islands, along with Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu – has 1,473, according to the new survey, while Nagasaki in the south-west has 1,479.
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#Japan #sees #number #islands #double #recount
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 16, 2023