BEIJING – The Chinese military said Monday it has started drills around Taiwan involving its army, navy, air and rocket force troops as a “stern warning” against separatists seeking the island’s independence and external interference.
The “Justice Mission 2025” follows the U.S. approval earlier this month of a potential sale of weapons and related equipment worth more than $11 billion to Taiwan. An ongoing diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on a contingency surrounding the territory also contributed to tensions.
The military said fighters, bombers and unmanned aerial vehicles, in coordination with long-range rocket fire, were part of drills in the waters and airspace in central areas of the Taiwan Strait on Monday.
Focusing on striking mobile ground targets, the drills intend to test the troops’ precision strikes on key targets, it added. Chinese state-run media released videos of the exercises conducted on Monday.
The Eastern Theater Command, which covers the Taiwan Strait, released a notice and map of exercises to be conducted on Tuesday involving live-fire activities near the self-ruled island.
The map indicated five areas surrounding Taiwan, warning vessels and aircraft not to enter the waters and airspace above. The exercises will focus on sea-air combat readiness patrols and the blockade of key ports and other areas, among other objectives, according to the military.
The command justified the drills as “a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a press conference Monday, “any despicable act of crossing the line” on the Taiwan question will “surely be retaliated against resolutely by China.”
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te called for boosting the island’s defense capabilities, saying in a Facebook post that continually raising the cost of aggression would be the only way to keep the island secure.
“Many democratic countries are increasing their defense budgets, and Taiwan cannot stand aside,” Lai said. The island must not only fulfill its responsibility to safeguard its own security, but also contribute to maintaining peace and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, he added.
Taiwan’s Presidential Office expressed its “strongest condemnation” of the Chinese military actions, saying they undermine the security and stability of the Taiwan Strait as well as the Indo-Pacific region and pose an open challenge to international law and order.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo urged Beijing to “act rationally and exercise restraint, immediately halt irresponsible provocative actions, avoid misjudging the situation, and refrain from becoming a troublemaker that undermines regional peace.”
The territory’s Defense Ministry said it has established a contingency center and deployed appropriate forces in response, while conducting immediate combat readiness exercises to safeguard the island. “All military personnel will remain highly vigilant and fully prepared,” it added.
As of 3 p.m. Monday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected 89 Chinese warplanes and drones near the island, while none of the mainland’s three aircraft carriers was confirmed to have taken part in the drills.
Fu Zhengnan, an expert at the Chinese forces’ Academy of Military Science, suggested the drills are a response to the upcoming U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, highlighting its “highly egregious nature.”
The latest U.S. arms deal includes systems that effectively make Taiwan’s military operations “a natural extension of U.S. military operations,” raising the risk of direct confrontation between China and the United States, Fu pointed out.
China last conducted large-scale military drills near the territory in April, involving the deployment of the Shandong aircraft carrier fleet and long-range live-fire exercises.
Communist-led China views Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought into its fold, by force if necessary. The democratic island and the mainland have been governed separately since they split in 1949 after a civil war.
BY: The Times Union
