🇨🇳 China-Taiwan Feud

[Saif]

37 Chinese aircraft skirt Taiwan on way to drill

Taiwan's defence ministry said 37 Chinese aircraft were detected around the self-ruled island yesterday as they headed to exercises with an aircraft carrier in the western Pacific.

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and maintains a near-daily presence of fighter jets, drones and warships around the island, which is 180 kilometres (110 miles) from the southern Chinese coast.

Taiwan is also a crucial part of a chain of islands that military strategists say serve as a gateway from the South China Sea -- which China claims in nearly its entirety -- to the Pacific Ocean.

At around 9:30 am (0130 GMT) yesterday, Taipei said that "since 0520 today, the Ministry of National Defence detected a total of 37 Chinese aircraft", including fighter jets, bombers and drones.

Thirty-six of the aircraft crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait -- which bisects the narrow waterway separating the island from China.

"(The aircraft) headed to the Western Pacific via our southern and southeastern airspace to cooperate with the aircraft carrier the Shandong in conducting 'joint sea and air training'," the defence ministry said in a statement.

Defence Minister Wellington Koo told reporters the Shandong "did not pass through the Bashi Channel", the area off Taiwan's southern tip where Chinese ships typically transit en route to the Pacific Ocean.

Instead, it "went further south through the Balingtang Channel towards the Western Pacific," he said, referring to a waterway just north of the Philippines' Babuyan Island -- about 250 kilometres south of Bashi.​

 

[Saif]

China’s ‘growing authoritarianism’ won’t stop with Taiwan: Lai

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te warned on Wednesday that China’s ‘growing authoritarianism will not stop with’ the island and urged democratic countries to unite to curb its expansion...

www.newagebd.net

China’s ‘growing authoritarianism’ won’t stop with Taiwan: Lai
Agence France-Presse . Taipei 21 August, 2024, 22:31

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. | AFP file photo

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te warned on Wednesday that China’s ‘growing authoritarianism will not stop with’ the island and urged democratic countries to unite to curb its expansion.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and a senior Chinese Communist Party official said Tuesday that Beijing was confident of ‘complete reunification’ with the island.

Speaking at the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei, Lai cautioned that Taiwan was not ‘the only target’ of Beijing.

‘We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will not stop with Taiwan, nor is Taiwan the only target of China’s economic pressures,’ he told politicians and scholars from 11 countries attending the forum.

‘China intends to change the rules-based international order. That is why democratic countries must come together and take concrete action. Only by working together can we inhibit the expansion of authoritarianism.’

Lai, who was sworn in on May 20, has been labelled a ‘dangerous separatist’ by China for his staunch defence of Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Beijing has ramped up military and political pressure on Taiwan in recent years, and launched wargames days after Lai’s inauguration, encircling the island with fighter jets and naval vessels.

Taiwan’s military has been reporting near-daily sightings of Chinese warships around its waters, as well as sorties by fighter jets and drones around the island.

But Lai said China’s ‘military expansionism’ was taking place elsewhere, pointing to Beijing’s joint exercises with Russia in the South China Sea, Western Pacific and the Sea of Japan.

‘Such actions are intended to intimidate China’s neighbours and undermine regional peace and stability,’ he said.

‘Taiwan will not be intimidated. We will take responsibility to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.’

Lai has repeatedly made overtures for dialogue with Beijing but talks have effectively dried up since the 2016 election of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, who has long said Taiwan is not part of China.

‘Taiwan will neither yield nor provoke. On the condition of parity and dignity, we are willing to conduct exchanges and cooperate with China,’ Lai reiterated Wednesday.

China’s foreign ministry hit back on Wednesday afternoon, with spokeswoman Mao Ning insisting Taiwan was ‘an inalienable part of China’s territory’ and accusing Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party of misleading the public.

‘No matter what they say or do, they cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to a single China, nor can they stop the historical trend of China’s eventual reunification,’ she told a regular press conference.​

 

[Saif]

China spent $15.3b on Pacific exercises in 2023, internal Taiwan estimates show

The internal research by Taiwan's armed forces, reviewed by Reuters, offers a rare look into a slice of China's defence spending.

en.prothomalo.com

China spent $15.3b on Pacific exercises in 2023, internal Taiwan estimates show
ReutersTaipei
Published: 27 Aug 2024, 09: 54

A fishing boat sails past a Chinese warship during a military drill off the Chinese coast near Fuzhou, Fujian Province, across from the Taiwan-controlled Matsu Islands, China, 11 April 2023. Reuters

China spent about $15 billion, or 7 per cent of its defence budget, on exercises in the Western Pacific in 2023, according to a previously unpublished Taiwanese estimate, showing Beijing's investment in military activity around Taiwan and its neighbours.

The internal research by Taiwan's armed forces, reviewed by Reuters, offers a rare look into a slice of China's defence spending as Beijing has ramped up its military presence amid rising tensions in the region.

China claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring the democratically governed island under its control despite Taiwan's strong objections. It is also locked in disputes with several countries over sovereignty of large parts of the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

"This reveals the logic of allocation of their resources," said a senior Taiwan official briefed on the research. "They are spending a huge amount of resources trying to gain control of the west of the First Island Chain." The official, and two other people briefed on the research, declined to be identified for this story because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The First Island Chain is a collection of archipelagos running roughly from Indonesia in an arc northeast to Japan, encompassing the South China Sea and East China Sea.

In a statement to Reuters, Taiwan's defence ministry declined to comment on the figures.

"But the Chinese Communist Party's enormous military investment in recent years indeed has a negative impact to the peace and stability in the region, which is not conducive to global prosperity and development," it added.

China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and China's second-highest-ranking military official, said in April the sea should not be an arena where countries can flex their "gunboat muscles".

Carrying out "maritime containment, encirclement and island blockades will only plunge the world into a vortex of division and turbulence," he added, in an apparent reference to the U.S. and its allies.

Taiwan's defence ministry compiled the reports in May based on Taiwanese surveillance and intelligence on Chinese military activity in the Bohai Sea off northeast China, the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the western Pacific Ocean.

The reports tallied China's naval and air missions there in 2023, then estimated how much fuel and other consumables would cost for each hour of activity. The total was 110 billion yuan ($15.3 billion), including maintenance, repairs and salaries, the reports and the officials briefed on the research said.

The research was designed to help Taiwanese decision makers understand how China allocates military resources across regions, as well as to gauge what Taipei perceives as a "gap" between Beijing's intentions and its capabilities, three officials briefed on the reports said.

Comparing the cost of the exercises to the state of China's economy, they said, helps Taipei assess the risks for both Taiwan and China.

The 110 billion yuan figure amounts to about 85 per cent of Taiwan's 2023 defence budget, Reuters calculations show.

It is about 7 per cent of China's reported 2023 military spending of 1.55 trillion yuan, although diplomats and experts say that number is often opaque or not fully inclusive. China in March announced a 7.2 per cent rise in defence spending for this year to 1.67 trillion yuan.

"It's like a black hole," said retired Taiwanese Navy Lieutenant Commander Lu Li-shih, noting that individual spending programmes were not broken out in China's defence budget. "You can gauge the trend, but you can't tell what the detailed items are."

1.7 million hours at sea

Both Washington and Beijing have significantly increased the volume of military exercises across Asia amid roiling tensions in recent years, though China's drills still lag in scale and complexity, a study has found.

China's state-backed Global Times newspaper said last year sending carrier groups into the waters of the Western Pacific was not only about flexing muscles around Taiwan, and that China's navy needed to get used to operating far out at sea.

"China's carrier battle group is facing not only the Taiwan authorities, but also the interference of external forces," military expert Song Zhongping told the newspaper.

Four experts said the reports' methodology was feasible and could provide valuable information, although they cautioned that it necessarily included some guesswork.

They also said direct comparisons on military exercise spending were difficult; no data was available, for instance, on how much the United States spent on such activities in 2023. But the U.S. Department of Defense has proposed spending $9.9 billion next year on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, created to counter China's military build-up.

Reuters could not independently confirm the accuracy of the Taiwanese estimate.

China has stepped up military incursions and war games near Taiwan.

In 2023, Chinese aircraft, including J-10 fighter jets, H-6 bombers, and drones, made more than 9,200 flights in the region, amounting to about 29,000 hours in the air, the report shows.

The Chinese navy made more than 70,000 sailings, including aircraft carriers and destroyers, amounting to a total time at sea of more than 1.7 million hours.

Roughly 40 per cent of the Chinese naval journeys were made in the highly contested South China Sea, about 20 per cent were in the East China Sea bordering Japan and South Korea, and nearly 15 per cent were in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, the report shows.

Taiwan has reported about 1,700 Chinese military planes have flown in its air defence identification zone so far this year, slightly more than the total for all of 2023, according to data compiled by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

China also launched "punishment" drills around Taiwan in May 2024, sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks shortly after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing considers a separatist, took office.

During the two-day "Joint Sword – 2024A" war games that month, Chinese air and naval forces were estimated to have spent about $13.17 million on fuel and consumables, according to another internal Taiwan defence report reviewed by Reuters.

The estimated spending for that exercise did not include personnel and maintenance, which are usually about three times the cost of fuel and consumables, the three officials briefed on the research said.

Chinese warplanes made more than 100 flights and spent some 300 hours in the air during those exercises, the report shows, while Chinese warships and coast guard boats made about 90 trips.

Chieh Chung, a researcher at a Taipei-based think tank, the Association of Strategic Foresight, said the activity showed the Chinese military was building combat readiness.

"The Communist military is ramping up their training for a Taiwan invasion," he said. "More aircraft and pilots are now capable of conducting such missions."​

 

[Saif]

Taiwan slams China ‘intervention’ after Pacific bloc alters statement

The Taiwanese foreign ministry on Saturday accused China of an ‘arbitrary intervention’ after a joint declaration by Pacific leaders was altered to remove mentions of Taiwan.

www.newagebd.net

Taiwan slams China ‘intervention’ after Pacific bloc alters statement
Agence France-Presse . Nuku’alofa 31 August, 2024, 23:14

The Taiwanese foreign ministry on Saturday accused China of an ‘arbitrary intervention’ after a joint declaration by Pacific leaders was altered to remove mentions of Taiwan.

‘Taiwan issued the strongest condemnation on China’s arbitrary intervention and unreasonable actions that undermine regional peace and stability,’ the foreign ministry told AFP in a statement.

Self-ruled Taiwan—which Beijing claims as its own territory—also called on ‘all like-minded countries to closely monitor China’s actions’ to safeguard ‘the harmony and stable development of Pacific island countries’.

The rebuff came after a statement by Pacific leaders was reissued with mentions of Taiwan removed after China had slammed an earlier version as a ‘mistake’ that ‘must be corrected’.

After five days of talks in Tonga, a ‘cleared’ communique was released Friday that reaffirmed a 30-year-old agreement allowing Taiwan to take part in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

But the wording immediately raised the ire of Chinese diplomats, who piled pressure on Pacific leaders to amend the document.

The forum reissued the communique without explanation Saturday morning, conspicuously deleting the paragraph concerning the regional bloc’s ‘relations with Taiwan’.

Neither PIF nor Chinese officials replied to requests for comment on Saturday.

China’s special envoy to the Pacific islands, Qian Bo, had told reporters on Friday that the mention of Taiwan was ‘a surprising mistake made by someone’, before insisting ‘it must be corrected’.

Qian earlier said he had contacted the bloc’s secretariat in the hope of clarifying the situation.

The original paragraph—titled ‘Relations with Taiwan/Republic of China’—said leaders had ‘reaffirmed’ the 1992 decision that paved the way for Taiwan’s participation in the forum.

Beijing has aggressively sought to exclude Taiwan, a self-governing island of more than 23 million people, from international bodies and rejects its autonomy.

The South Pacific was once seen as a bastion of support for Taiwan’s claim to statehood, but China has methodically whittled this down.

In the past five years, Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru have all been persuaded to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Beijing insists its diplomatic allies withdraw recognition of the self-ruled island.

Palau, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei but face constant pressure to change.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it had contacted its three Pacific allies ‘to actively communicate with the PIF Secretariat’ in a bid to retain the clause.

‘But the final decision by member states was to use the spirit of diversity and inclusion of the ‘Pacific Way’ as a compromise of the opinions of all parties, and publish a joint communique with consensus,’ a Taiwanese spokesperson added.

‘This communique did not undermine our country’s status in the Pacific Islands Forum or exclude our rights to participate in the PIF in the future.

‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked our allies and like-minded countries for their support for our continued participation in PIF.’

Solomon Islands, China’s main partner in the South Pacific, has lobbied for Taiwan to be stripped of its ‘development partner’ status with the PIF.

US territories Guam and American Samoa were elevated to associate members of the forum, against the wishes of Solomon Islands.

New Zealand’s foreign ministry confirmed to AFP that there had not been a consensus on the paragraph about Taiwan.

‘There are a range of views among the 18 Pacific Islands Forum members and part of the ‘Pacific Way’ is respect for different views and the importance of consensus,’ a spokesperson said in a statement.​

 

[Saif]

Taiwan detects 29 Chinese fighter jets around island

Taiwan’s defence ministry said yesterday that 29 Chinese fighter jets and drones were detected around the democratic island, following a 24-hour period that saw a surge in military movement by Beijing’s forces.

www.thedailystar.net

Taiwan detects 29 Chinese fighter jets around island

Taiwan's defence ministry said yesterday that 29 Chinese fighter jets and drones were detected around the democratic island, following a 24-hour period that saw a surge in military movement by Beijing's forces.

China, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, sends warplanes, drones and naval vessels around the island nearly every day.

The latest ramp-up in military movement came after Japanese media reported that a Japanese warship sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait for the first time to assert its freedom of navigation.

Yesterday, Taiwan's defence ministry said 43 Chinese military aircraft and eight naval vessels were detected in a 24-hour period ending at 6:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday). It also released an illustration that showed the aircraft surrounding the island except for the northeastern coast.

By afternoon, the ministry reported an additional 29 aircraft -- including fighter jets and drones -- had been detected since 8:00 am.

"Out of those, 21 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait," it said.​

 

[Saif]

Taiwan president vows to resist annexation of island

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te vowed Thursday to ‘resist annexation’, as China exerts growing military and political pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.

www.newagebd.net

Taiwan president vows to resist annexation of island
Agence France-Presse . Taipei 10 October, 2024, 22:30

Lai Ching-te

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te vowed Thursday to ‘resist annexation’, as China exerts growing military and political pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.

China has not ruled out using force to bring the democratic island under its control, which Lai and his government oppose.

‘I will also uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty,’ Lai said under grey skies during Taiwan’s National Day celebrations.

Beijing and Taipei were ‘not subordinate to each other’ and China had ‘no right to represent Taiwan’, Lai said.

Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taiwan to accept its territorial claims and relations have remained tense under Lai, who took office in May.

Lai has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a ‘separatist’.

China warned Thursday evening after the speech that Lai’s ‘provocations’ would result in ‘disaster’ for the people of Taiwan.

‘(Lai’s) provocations in seeking ‘independence’ are the root cause of trouble for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and will bring disaster to the people of Taiwan,’ said Chen Binhua, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, according to a social media post by the bureau.

Earlier in the day, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning condemned Lai’s speech, saying it ‘exposed his sinister intention to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait for political self-interest’.

A senior US administration official said Wednesday that Beijing may use the National Day celebrations ‘as a pretext’ for military exercises.

Speaking in front of an audience that included Tsai and pro-independence former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian, Lai said: ‘Our determination to defend our national sovereignty remains unchanged.’

‘Our efforts to maintain the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait remain unchanged,’ Lai said in front of the Presidential Office.

Foreign guests included three members of the US Congress, as well as representatives from some of the 12 states that still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, including Tuvalu prime minister Feleti Teo.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has remained Taiwan’s most important partner and its biggest arms supplier.

Washington opposes Taiwan independence and any attempt by China to forcibly take the island.

Thursday’s celebrations mark the 113th anniversary of the toppling of China’s Qing dynasty and the subsequent founding of the Republic of China.

The current dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war between the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s communist fighters.

The nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after they were defeated by the communists.

The Republic of China remains Taiwan’s official name.

While Taiwan has its own government, military and currency, it has never declared formal independence from mainland China.

Beijing has sought to erase Taipei from the international stage, blocking it from global forums and poaching its diplomatic allies.

Taiwan was on alert for Chinese military drills near the island on National Day after observing ‘some maritime deployments’, a senior security official said on Wednesday.

China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of large-scale war games in the past two years, deploying aircraft and ships to encircle the island.

‘Even though we have not seen significant military activity or exercises following previous 10/10 speeches, we are prepared that Beijing may choose to use this as a pretext this year,’ the senior US administration official told reporters.

‘We see no justification for a routine annual celebration to be used in this manner. Coercive actions like this against Taiwan and in the cross-Strait context, in our view, undermine cross-Strait stability.’

Taiwan’s defence ministry said Thursday that 27 Chinese military aircraft and nine navy vessels were detected around the island in the 24 hours to 6:00am.

Susan Hung, 60, said she worried that China’s military actions around Taiwan could ‘escalate beyond control’.

‘We have these fears in mind, so we hope for peace,’ Hung said, as she watched the celebrations.

In his speech, Lai expressed hope for ‘healthy and orderly dialogue and exchanges’ with China, and urged Beijing to use its influence to help end conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Beijing severed high-level communications with Taipei in 2016 when Tsai, also a member of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, took power.​

 

[Saif]

China threatens Taiwan with more trade measures after denouncing president's speech

China is studying further trade measures against Taiwan, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday, two days after Beijing denounced a speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. The Chinese ministry said in a statement on its website that the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan's r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

China threatens Taiwan with more trade measures after denouncing president's speech
REUTERS
Published :
Oct 12, 2024 18:14
Updated :
Oct 12, 2024 18:14

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te gives a keynote address on national day to mark the 113th birthday of the Republic of China, Taiwan's formal name, in Taipei, Taiwan October 10, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang

China is studying further trade measures against Taiwan, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday, two days after Beijing denounced a speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.

The Chinese ministry said in a statement on its website that the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan's ruling party, had not taken any practical measures to lift "trade restrictions" on China.

"At present, relevant (Chinese government) departments are studying further measures based on the conclusions of the investigation into trade barriers from Taiwan" against China, it added.

Taiwan's China policy making Mainland Affairs Council said it regretted and "strongly protested" the move.

"Blatant economic coercion will only arouse the resentment of the Taiwanese people and cause the distance between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to grow wider and wider," it said in a statement.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests Lai as a "separatist". Lai and his government reject Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

On Thursday at his keynote national day speech, Lai said the People's Republic of China had no right to represent Taiwan, but that the island was willing to work with Beijing to combat challenges like climate change, striking both a firm and conciliatory tone, drawing anger from China.

The Saturday announcement from China's commerce ministry could portend tariffs or other forms of economic pressure against the island in the near future.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office, which on Thursday said that Lai's speech promoted "separatist ideas" and incited confrontation, responded to the announcement by saying the fundamental reason behind the trade dispute was the "DPP authorities' stubborn adherence to the stance of 'Taiwan independence'".

"The political basis makes it difficult for cross-Strait trade disputes to be resolved through negotiation," it added.

In May, China reinstated tariffs on 134 items it imports from Taiwan, after Beijing's finance ministry said it would suspend concessions on the items under a trade deal because Taiwan had not reciprocated.

The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between China and Taiwan was initially signed in 2010 and Taiwanese officials had previously told Reuters that China was likely to pressure Lai by ending some of the preferential trading terms within it.​

 

[Saif]

China ends day of military ‘warning’ drills around Taiwan

China ended a day of military drills around Taiwan on Monday in which it deployed fighter jets and warships in what Beijing said was a ‘stern warning’ to ‘separatist’ forces on the self-ruled island...

www.newagebd.net

China ends day of military ‘warning’ drills around Taiwan
Agence France-Presse . Taipei 14 October, 2024, 21:53

A Taiwanese Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet prepares to land at an air force base in Hsinchu on Monday. | AFP photo

China ended a day of military drills around Taiwan on Monday in which it deployed fighter jets and warships in what Beijing said was a ‘stern warning’ to ‘separatist’ forces on the self-ruled island.

Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Monday’s drills represented its fourth round of large-scale war games in just over two years.

The United States said China’s actions were ‘unwarranted’ and risk ‘escalation’ as it called on Beijing to act with restraint.

Beijing announced at around 6:00pm (1000 GMT), 13 hours after the drills started, that they had been ‘successfully completed’.

The drills, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, had ‘fully tested the integrated joint operation capabilities of its troops’, military spokesperson Captain Li Xi said in a statement.

‘Always on high alert, troops of the theater command keep strengthening combat readiness with arduous training, and will foil the ‘Taiwan Independence separatist attempts’,’ Li said.

President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a ‘separatist’.

Lai vowed on Monday to ‘protect democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security’, while the defence ministry said it had dispatched ‘appropriate forces’ in response to the drills.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said ‘Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are irreconcilable’.

Taiwan detected 125 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, around the island between 5:02am (2102 GMT) and 4:30pm, a defence ministry official said, describing it as a record for a single day. Seventeen warships were also spotted.

Outlying islands administered by Taipei had been put on ‘heightened alert’, Taiwan’s defence ministry said.

Beijing said its exercises served as a ‘stern warning to the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan Independence’ forces’.

The drills took place in ‘areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island’, Li said earlier.

Their aim was to focus ‘on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas’, Li said.

They also practised an ‘assault on maritime and ground targets’.

The previous large-scale drills held in May, three days after Lai’s inauguration, were called ‘Joint Sword-2024A’ and lasted two days.

China’s coast guard was also sent to conduct ‘inspections’, with a diagram released by the coast guard showing four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anti-clockwise direction around the island.

The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian — the closest area on the mainland to Taiwan — also said it conducted ‘comprehensive law enforcement patrols’ in waters near the Taipei-controlled Matsu islands.

Taiwan said four ‘formations’ of China coast guard ships had patrolled the island and briefly entered its restricted waters, but not its prohibited waters.

China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending warplanes and other military aircraft while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the island’s waters.

‘In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness,’ Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday.

Lai convened a high-level security meeting over the drills, said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, who described the exercises as ‘inconsistent with international law’.

He vowed in his National Day speech on Thursday to ‘resist annexation’ and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were ‘not subordinate to each other’.

Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.

Beijing said on Monday the drills were ‘a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity’.

Lieutenant Colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the drills could ‘switch from training to combat at any time’.

‘If Taiwan separatists provoke once, the PLA’s operation around the island will make their first move,’ Fu said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.

Taiwan’s coast guard said on Monday it had detained a Chinese man on one of its outlying islands after a possible ‘grey zone intrusion’, referring to tactics that fall short of a direct act of war.

In Taipei, people appeared to be largely unperturbed.

‘I won’t panic too much because they quite often have drills,’ 34-year-old engineer Benjamin Hsiao said.

‘It’s not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a bit numb.’

AFP journalists saw about five military jeeps mounted with machine guns on Monday afternoon patrolling around Taipei Songshan Airport, which is also a military air base.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since then.​

 

[Saif]

China's military encircles Taiwan in 'warning' drills

China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on Monday in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a "stern warning" to "separatist" forces on the self-ruled island.

en.prothomalo.com

China's military encircles Taiwan in 'warning' drills
AFP
Taipei
Published: 14 Oct 2024, 14: 27

Map of Taiwan showing China's "Joint Sword-2024B" military exercise areas, according to a map issued by the mainland's defense ministry AFP

China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on Monday in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a "stern warning" to "separatist" forces on the self-ruled island.

Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Monday's drills represent its fourth round of large-scale war games in just over two years.

The United States said China's actions were "unwarranted" and risk "escalation" as it called on Beijing to act with restraint.

President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan's sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a "separatist".

Lai vowed on Monday to "protect democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security", while the defence ministry said it dispatched "appropriate forces" in response to the drills.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning hit back, saying "Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are irreconcilable".

AFP journalists near the Hsinchu air force base, in the north of Taiwan, saw 12 fighter jets take off on Monday.

Outlying islands administered by Taipei were on "heightened alert" and "aircraft and ships will respond to enemy situations in accordance with the engagement rules", Taiwan's defence ministry said.

Beijing said its exercises served as a "stern warning to the separatist acts of 'Taiwan Independence' forces".

The drills, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, are testing troops' "joint operations capabilities" according to Captain Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command.

They are taking place in "areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island", he said.

The drills are "focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas", Li said.

They also practised an "assault on maritime and ground targets".

The Liaoning aircraft carrier group "with its troops of army, navy, air force and rocket force" was also involved, Li said.

The previous large-scale drills held in May, three days after Lai's inauguration, were called "Joint Sword-2024A" and lasted two days.

China coast guard 'inspections'

China's coast guard was also sent to conduct "inspections" around the island.

A diagram released by the coast guard showed four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anti-clockwise direction around the island.

The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian -- the closest area on the mainland to Taiwan -- also said it was conducting "comprehensive law enforcement patrols" in waters near the Taipei-controlled Matsu islands.

Taiwan said four "formations" of China coast guard ships were patrolling the island, but they had not entered its prohibited or restricted waters.
China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending warplanes and other military aircraft while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the island's waters.

"In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness," Taiwan's defence ministry said on Monday.

Lai convened a high-level security meeting over the drills, said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, who described the exercises as "inconsistent with international law".

In his National Day speech on Thursday, Lai vowed to "resist annexation" and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were "not subordinate to each other".
Lai's Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.

Beijing said on Monday the drills were "a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity".

'Feel a bit numb'

Lieutenant colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the drills could "switch from training to combat at any time".

"If Taiwan separatists provoke once, the PLA's operation around the island will make their first move," Fu said, referring to China's People's Liberation Army.

Taiwan's coast guard said on Monday it had detained a Chinese man on one of its outlying islands after a possible "grey zone intrusion", referring to tactics that fall short of a direct act of war.

In Taipei, people appeared to be largely unperturbed.

"I won't panic too much because they quite often have drills," 34-year-old engineer Benjamin Hsiao told AFP.

"It's not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a bit numb."

AFP journalists on Monday afternoon saw about five military jeeps mounted with machine guns patrolling around Taipei Songshan Airport, which is also a military air base.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since then.​