China is conducting a live-fire military exercise involving warships, anti-submarine aircraft and fighter jets near Taiwan in response to “‘provocations” by the US.
In an unusual move, at least two Chinese aircraft reportedly entered areas designated by Taiwan for its military use.
Hu Xijin, the influential editor-in-chief of the
Global Times, a party-run newspaper, demanded that John Cornyn, a US senator, explain why he tweeted that there were 30,000 US troops deployed to Taiwan.
“If there are 30,000 US troops, or even fewer than this number, deployed in Taiwan, it is a severe matter,” Hu wrote in a commentary.
“These troops must be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally. The US government and Taiwanese authorities must apologise. Otherwise, we believe there will be an all-out war right away. China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is certain to eliminate and expel US troops, liberate the province of Taiwan and solve the Taiwan issue once and for all.”
In a later tweet, Hu dismissed the possibility that Cornyn might have mistakenly quoted an outdated figure. “I think the senator is not confused, and he wants to test our response,” Hu tweeted. “My answer to him is war.”
The PLA exercises, taking place south of the island, were a “solemn response” to “external interference and provocations by Taiwan independence forces”, said Shi Yi, a colonel and spokesman for the eastern theatre command.
“Recently, the US and Taiwan have made a series of provocations, sending severely wrong signals, severely violating China’s sovereignty and severely harming the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” Shi said. “These have become the biggest source of instability [threatening] the security of the Taiwan Strait.”
The drills mark the
latest military escalation in the Taiwan Strait, where tensions have been building up for months, with China conducting war games and carrying out training exercises in a show of its determination to seize the island.
China considers the island to be part of its territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary, to achieve national unity. However, the US has a security pact with Taiwan to supply the island with adequate
military hardware and technology to deter mainland invasion.
In the face of rising threats from Beijing, Washington is deepening its ties with Taiwan, sending senior US officials there and donating coronavirus vaccines. The moves have irked Beijing, whose diplomats have warned their US counterparts that Taiwan is regarded as a matter of national sovereignty and is the most sensitive issue in US-China relations. The island broke away from the mainland in 1949 following a bloody civil war.
Last week reports surfaced that Taiwan and US coast guard forces had conducted joint exercises to the east of the island.
Taiwan denied there was any involvement of US vessels in the exercise but the two sides have set up a “Taiwan-US coast-guard work group” and last week agreed that it would meet regularly to co-ordinate on maritime issues of mutual concern and strengthen their abilities to respond to “regional maritime challenges”.
Chinese analysts, convinced that a joint exercise took place, called it a form of military co-operation and warned that it could pave the way for real joint exercises between Taiwanese and US military forces.
Following the reports, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said that any “collusion between Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party and foreign forces was “playing with fire”.
The Chinese military said its exercises were necessary given the “security situation” in the Taiwan Strait.
“The eastern theatre command has the determination and the abilities to defeat all separatists activities,” Colonel Shi said. “It will firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
By late afternoon, Taiwanese media said a Y-8 anti-submarine plane had traversed an area set up for firing exercises at a Taiwanese missile base, and that a Chinese spy plane flew across a designated area for the Taiwanese military to conduct air drills.
Since last September Chinese air force planes have regularly breached Taiwan’s air defence identification zone but it was the first time they have entered areas designated by the island for its own military use.