Military drills recently conducted on nearby Dongshan Island by the Chinese army are routine exercises from a military point of view, but serve as important political tools, according to analysts at a forum yesterday.
"With regard to the political consequences of military exercises, Taiwan has always chosen to be low-key but transparent," said Colonel Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a doctoral candidate at Fu Hsing Kang College.
"However, the details of Chinese military exercises are always kept highly confidential, and China is accustomed to using the media to exaggerate the political meaning of routine military drills. The drills are thus prime material for China's psychological and propaganda war against Taiwan," Shen said.
He further explained that Taiwanese authorities make public major military exercises to be conducted each year. In addition, in order to avoid cross-strait tension, Taiwanese authorities will purposely delay planned drills or downsize the scale of the exercise.
"With the exception of a few major military exercises, Taiwan has abandoned military code names and begun to refer to all exercises as just drills, a sign of Taiwan's goodwill," Shen said.
Chinese troops last month rehearsed coordinated air, sea and ground attacks on Dongshan, an island in the South China Sea only 277km west of Taiwan's Penghu island.
Similar drills in 2001, code-named "Liberation One," were among the largest ever conducted by the Chinese People's Liberation Army and seen as a military warning to then newly elected President Chen Shui-bian (
While the 2001 drills involved roughly 100,000 troops, only 18,000 troops took part in this year's Dongshan military drill.
National Security Council Secretariat Director Lieutenant-General James Liu (
"In actuality, the Dongshan Island military drills are part of a series of military exercises conducted around Donghai between March and September. These exercises are routine, regular and scheduled," Liu said.
"Perhaps China really meant to emphasize the political aspects of these drills in 2001 and this year by dubbing them "Liberation One" and "Liberation Two." However, in terms of the substance of the drills, these tactics have no meaning beyond their psychological and propaganda aspects," Liu said.
However, Chao Chien-min (趙建民), a political science professor at National Chengchi University, argued that the political significance of the drills indicated that they were more than mere routine exercises.
"This year, whether the drills were as large in scale as before, they are at least important political news. Also, the drills are coordinated with political events in Taiwan They are not just routine exercises, they are directed specifically at Taiwan," Chao said.
Chao also pointed out that the media reported for the first time that the Dongshan drills were aimed at "achieving control of the air."
"Is it fair to say that in the future China will make gaining leverage in air combat a military priority?" Chao asked.
Liu attributed reports from Hong Kong that Beijing wanted control of the air to propaganda, saying that the timing of the reports made it evident that they came as a response to Taiwan's landing advanced Mirage 2000-5 fighters on the Sun Yat-sen freeway.
"Command of the air was a basic and fundamental requirement for conducting this year's amphibious exercises," Liu said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS