Taiwan’s military said that it was closely monitoring the drills, but there was nothing unusual on the island of 23 million people that China claims as its own territory.
The latest exercises “focus on subjects of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, and interception and detention so as to test the troops’ capabilities of area regulation and control, joint blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets,” Eastern Theatre Command spokesperson Shi Yi was quoted as saying on the Chinese Defence Ministry’s Weibo social media account.
Taiwan reported that 76 military aircraft and 19 naval or government ships had entered waters and airspace near the island, with 37 of the planes crossing the centre line in the 160-km (110-mille) wide Taiwan Strait that forms an unofficial border, but which China refuses to acknowledge.
China’s Shandong aircraft carrier group also entered into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, a self-defined area tracked by the military.
Shi said the Shandong joined in on Wednesday’s drills in coordination with naval and air units in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan. The exercises focused on seizing air superiority in the area and evaluating forces’ ability to integrate operations “inside and outside the island chain,” Shi said, in a reference to the arc of islands closest to China including the Philippines, Taiwan, Okinawa and southern Japan. Beijing sends warplanes and naval vessels toward the island on a daily basis, and it has stepped up the scope and scale of these exercises in recent years. Taiwanese officials have recently warned that China could launch a sneak attack under the guise of military exercises. Chinese coast guard ships are are also operating around Taiwanese-held island groups just off the East China coast, where they are being shadowed by their Taiwanese counterparts at a rate of two or three to one Chinese ship, Taiwanese coast guard Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-Chin told reporters.
“Regarding this military drill, I think that China is adopting a threat and intimidation approach. They unilaterally altered the peace and stability,” Hsieh said. “This not only violates international law, but also threatens the safety of ships cruising on the sea.”
The Taiwan Strait is in international waters, but China monitors it heavily and objects strongly to the presence of US and other foreign naval vessels in the area.
Any conflict could draw in the US, which maintains a series of alliances in the region, provides Taiwan with high-tech arms and is legally bound to respond to threats to the island.
“Once again, China’s aggressive military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan only serve to exacerbate tensions and put the region’s security and the world’s prosperity at risk,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
“In the face of China’s intimidation tactics and destabilising behaviour, the United States’ enduring commitment to our allies and partners, including Taiwan, continues,” Bruce said in a statement.
Taiwan has set up a central response group to monitor the latest exercises, according to Taiwanese Defence Minister Wellington Koo.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said that the exercises were directed at Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s strongly pro-independence president. Polling shows the overwhelming majority of the island’s residents reject the possibility of Chinese rule and back their current state of Taiwan independence.
Taiwan and China split amid civil war 76 years ago, but tensions have risen since 2016, when China cut off almost all contacts with Taipei.
