Taiwan said Monday that its air force will practice emergency landing on a freeway for the first time in 25 years amid renewed tension in relations with China.The scenario of the drill is that Taiwan's airports may be destroyed should war break out with China, and that freeways may be used for emergency landings.
Defense Minister Lee Jye said the drills would take place between late July and early August. Several kilometers (miles) of the freeway have been repaired and a section will be shut down for half a day, defense ministry sources said.
Chief of the General Staff General Li Tien-yu, who was one of the two pilots who made the unprecedented freeway landing 25 years ago, said "it is necessary if Taiwan is to beef up national defense."
Analysts said the planned drill highlighted the growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing since President Chen Shui-bian from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party was re-elected in March for a second term.
"This (drill) must have something to do with the judgement of the enemy situation," Holmes Liao, a researcher of non-profit think-tank Taiwan Research Institute's the Division of Strategic and International Studies, told AFP.
"China's intention to attack Taiwan has always been there," he said, referring to Beijing's threat to invade should the island declare formal independence.
But Taiwan's military "was alarmed by the People's Liberation Army's fast improvement in their blitz capabilities over the past few years," he said.
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