Two training missions by Chinese military aircraft near Taiwan can be regarded as a strategic declaration by China that it is capable of engaging in military operations not just west of Taiwan, but also on the east side, two military analysts said.
Ten military aircraft from the Eastern Theater Command — one of five war zones designated by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — embarked on Saturday on a long-distance training mission, during which they flew over the Miyako Strait in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Four of the aircraft then turned south toward the Bashi Channel, where they joined several fighter jets from the Southern Theater Command circling just outside Taiwan’s air defense identification zone to the south, before returning to base, the ministry said.
It was the second time in less than a month that Chinese military aircraft circled near Taiwan, but did not enter the nation’s air defense identification zone, the ministry said.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said the two training missions were a strategic declaration by Beijing that it can “break through the first island chain” off the east coast of continental Asia.
That includes the Kuril Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the northern Philippines and Borneo, which was the chain of islands that the US used to block China during the Cold War, said Lin, who served five terms as a lawmaker and a member of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
He said the missions were also strategic training for Chinese military pilots, familiarizing them with the area off eastern Taiwan, testing their ability to respond to Taiwan’s air force and allowing them to collect intelligence.
China wants to let Taiwan know that its so-called “safe base” on the east coast is now not so safe, Lin said.
He said that if China ever launches an attack on Taiwan, it would be a full-scale military operation.
Expressing similar views, Shih Hsiao-wei (施孝瑋) of the Military and Aviation News Web site told reporters that China’s training missions are an indication that the PLA is now capable of launching long-distance strikes on eastern Taiwan.
The missions were also meant to send a warning to Washington, after the US Senate passed a national defense authorization bill on Thursday last week to allow high-level Pentagon officials to visit Taiwan, Shih said.
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