taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003300321
Is this a real news item or an April Foolz joke? Looks real, until…
Will Beijing resond to this, er, provocation?
Officials uncover secret Taiwanese weapons program
By Yu Ren-jie
STAFF REPORTER , IN KINMEN
Saturday, Apr 01*, 2006,Page 3
In a move certain to send shockwaves through cross-straits relations, the ROC Ministry of National Defense yesterday said a secret weapons development program it had begun in 1996 had succeeded beyond all expectations, and had the potential to restore equilibrium to the cross-straits military balance.
The program, dubbed ‘‘Operation 檳榔憤怒’’, was created under former president Lee Teng-hui, after the fallout from the Lafayette-class frigate scandal left many military strategists convinced that Taiwan had to rely on indigenous solutions for its defensive needs.
Although details are sketchy, a highly placed military source confirmed that the weapons relied on chemicals extracted from chewed betel nuts, and that a number of professional betel-nut chewers, including truck drivers, scantily-clad betel-nut girls and nakashi listening taxi drivers, had been recruited to produce adequate supplies of betel-nut extract.
Unconfirmed media reports indicate that one of the systems developed was a type of land-attack cruise missile, which employed an aerosol-dispersal device to shower enemy positions with red betel-nut juice, leaving enemy personnel feeling slightly ill…
Note that the same writer (Yu Ren-jie, Chinese for April Fools Day) also has a story about cosmetic surgery for pets on page 16.
I saw that too, and that’s seems pretty INcredible too, good AFD joke, but does that name mean something funny too: YU RENJIE? (smile) 