One of nine Terrex armoured vehicles waits to be loaded onto a truck at a cargo terminal in Hong Kong, yesterday.
Singapore: Nine Singapore armoured troop carriers impounded by Hong Kong while in transit from military exercises in Taiwan are on their way back home, the city-state's defence minister said yesterday.
The release of the Terrex vehicles closes the curtain on a diplomatic row that also involved China, which has sovereignty over Hong Kong and considers Taiwan a renegade island awaiting reunification.
"Terrexes left Hong Kong port this morning at 0415hrs. Next stop, home," Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said.
Ng had said on Wednesday that the journey would take a week.
Hong Kong customs authorities had impounded the vehicles in November while they were being shipped home following exercises in Taiwan, where land-starved Singapore has for decades trained its troops.
Following the seizure, China lodged a diplomatic protest to Singapore over its military cooperation with Taiwan.
