China launches live-fire war games around Taiwan
Joe Cash and Yimou Lee |
China is staging live-fire drills around Taiwan, deploying troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its “Justice Mission 2025” exercises, as the island scrambles soldiers and showcases US-made hardware to rehearse repelling an attack.
The Eastern Theatre Command said it had concentrated forces to the north and southwest of the Taiwan Strait and carried out live firing and simulated strikes on land and maritime targets.
The drills will continue on Tuesday and include exercises to blockade the island’s main ports and encircle it.
A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters dozens of Chinese military boats and aircraft were operating around the island, some of which were “deliberately closing in” on Taiwan’s contiguous zone.
This marks China’s sixth major round of war games since 2022 after then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically governed island, and follows a rise in Chinese rhetoric over Beijing’s territorial claims after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
The exercises began 11 days after the US announced $US11.1 billion ($A16.5 billion) in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest-ever weapons package for the island, drawing a protest from China’s defence ministry and warnings the military would “take forceful measures” in response.
Analysts say Beijing’s drills increasingly blur the line between routine military training exercises and what could be stage-setting for an attack, a strategy intended to give the US and its allies minimal warning of an assault.
“This (the drills) serves as a serious warning to ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces,” said Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command on Monday.
Taiwan’s government condemned the drills, while its defence ministry posted a video on Facebook showcasing various weapons, including US-made HIMARS rocket systems that could hit mainland China.
Taiwan’s coast guard said it had dispatched large ships in reaction to Chinese coast guard activity near its waters and it was working with the island’s military to minimise the drills’ impact on maritime routes and fishing areas.
The island’s aviation authority said China had designated a “temporary danger zone” in Taipei’s airspace for 10 hours of live-fire drills scheduled for Tuesday and that it was working to identify alternative flight routes.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said two Chinese military aircraft and 11 ships had been operating around the island in the past 24 hours, and that Taiwan’s military was on high alert and poised to carry out “rapid response exercises”.
That particular drill is designed to move troops swiftly in case China suddenly turns one of its drills around the island into an attack.
“All members of our armed forces will remain highly vigilant and fully on guard, taking concrete action to defend the values of democracy and freedom,” the defence ministry said.
Taiwan rejects China’s claimed sovereignty, maintaining that only its people can decide the island’s future.
China’s state broadcaster said the exercises would focus on sealing off Taiwan’s vital deep-water Port of Keelung to the island’s north and Kaohsiung to Taiwan’s south, the island’s largest port city.
While the PLA practised port blockades around Taiwan during war games in 2024, this marks the first time it has publicly stated that drills around the island are aimed at “deterrence” of outside military intervention.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump in November that Taiwan’s “return to China” after World War II was central to Beijing’s vision of the global order.
with AP
Reuters
