China has kicked off war games simulating an invasion of Taiwan, witnesses and a Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper said yesterday, as military chief Jiang Zemin (
China believes President Chen Shui-bian (
The week-long land, sea and air exercises started on Dongshan island off China's southeastern coast in the first half the month after months of preparation, the Ta Kung Pao newspaper said.
About 18,000 troops were taking part in the exercises, which would aim for the first time to demonstrate air superiority in the Taiwan Strait, the paper said.
But it was business as usual for Dongshan residents.
"I can see ships and soldiers, but it's far away ... I have no time to watch the exercises," a resident who would only give his surname, Chi, said by telephone from Dongshan.
"Why worry? There are exercises every year," he said.
A hotel employee said: "It's a secret. We're not allowed to watch or ask questions lest we're mistaken for spies."
Dongshan, 280 km from Penghu, has been the site of eight drills since 1996, when China attempted to interfere with the nation's first-ever presidential elections by launching ballistic missiles into the Taiwan Strait, before backing down after the US sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region.
The period "before or after 2020 is the time to resolve the Taiwan issue," military chief and ex-Communist Party chief Jiang told a recent expanded meeting of the Central Military Commission, the decision-making body of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper said.
The meeting also approved military, political, logistics and armament development plans over an unspecified period for the 2.5-million-strong PLA, the newspaper said. It gave no details.
Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-shan (邱太三) called for negotiations and peace.
"We need to sit down and discuss any problems concerning both sides. We must try to resolve our problems on the basis of peace and stability," Chiu told a news conference.
"The United States, Japan and the European Union have all said cross-Strait issues should be resolved through peaceful means," he said. "Communist China has pledged to focus on economic development. The report clearly violates its policy."
Taiwan is holding the annual Han Kuang, or "Han Glory" exercises later this month to test combat readiness in the face of what Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (李傑) has said was a significantly higher likelihood that China would use force to recover the island.
In Washington, Pentagon officials said a crisis-simulation drill based on a growing Chinese military threat to Taiwan was played out this week by US decision makers.
The exercise, called Dragon's Thunder, was held on Monday.
Also See Story:
Editorial: Peace must be the bottom line
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS