China ended three days of military drills around Taiwan yesterday saying it was “ready to fight”, having tested integrated military capabilities under actual combat conditions, and practised precision strikes and blockading the island that Beijing views as its own.
aiwan responded to Beijing’s announcement by saying it would “never relax” its efforts to strengthen combat readiness and would closely monitor China’s missile forces and movements of the Shandong aircraft carrier.
Beijing began the drills on Saturday after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring the democratically governed island under Beijing’s control. Taiwan’s government strongly disputes China’s claims and has denounced the drills.
The Chinese military said it had “successfully completed” the exercises and “comprehensively tested” the capabilities of multiple units under actual combat conditions.
“The troops in the theatre are ready to fight all the time and can fight at any time, resolutely crushing any form of Taiwan independence separatism and foreign interference,” the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a statement.
Chinese state television said earlier yesterday that aircraft, including nuclear-capable H-6 bombers armed with live missiles, and warships staged drills to “form a multi-directional island-encompassing blockade situation”.
The Eastern Theatre Command said the Shandong had also taken part in combat patrols, and it showed fighters taking off from the aircraft carrier’s deck.
Taiwan has tracked the Shandong since last week in the Pacific Ocean.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said that as of 10am yesterday it had spotted 12 Chinese ships and 91 military aircraft around the island, including carrier-based J-15 fighters flown from the Shandong.
The Shandong conducted air operations in waters close to Japan’s Okinawan islands on Sunday, Japan’s defence ministry said on yesterday.
Jet fighters and helicopters took off and landed on the carrier 120 times from Friday to Sunday, with the carrier, three other warships and a support vessel coming within 230km of Japan’s Miyako island, the defence ministry said.
Japan has been following China’s military drills around Taiwan “with great interest”, a top government spokesperson said yesterday.
Japan has long worried about China’s military activities in the area given how close southern Japanese islands are to Taiwan.
The Japanese island of Okinawa hosts a major US air force base. Last August when China staged war games to protest against the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, Chinese missiles landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The European Union also expressed concern yesterday, saying Taiwan’s status should not be changed by force as any escalation, accident or use of force there would have huge global implications.
The US said it is watching China’s drills closely and its exercises undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. “Our channels of communication with China remain open and we have consistently urged restraint,” a senior administration official said yesterday.
By contrast, Russia, which has declared a “no limits” partnership with China, said Beijing had every right to respond to repeated “provocations” against it and carry out military exercises around Taiwan.
Taiwan’s military has repeatedly said it will respond calmly to China’s drills and not provoke conflict.
The defence ministry separately released pictures yesterday of mobile launchers for the Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles at an undisclosed location, as well as missile-armed fast attack boats at sea.
Reuters reporters at the Cape Maobitou park in Pingtung county on Taiwan’s southern tip saw Hsiung Feng launchers deployed near a scenic spot yesterday, as soldiers stood guard and tourists watched and posed for pictures
.