China yesterday fired several Dongfeng ballistic missiles as it began four days of unprecedented military drills off Taiwan proper following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei the previous day.
On Tuesday, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said Beijing would “take all necessary measures” in retaliation should Pelosi visit Taiwan during her Asia tour.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from 1:56pm to 4pm fired 11 Dongfeng missiles into waters north, east and south of Taiwan proper, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said.
Taiwanese armed forces, using “forward warning and surveillance mechanisms,” monitored the missile tests in real time, activated the country’s defense systems and strengthened combat preparedness, it said.
“The ministry condemns these irrational acts that are damaging to regional peace,” ministry spokesman Major General Sun Li-fang (孫立方) told a news briefing.
China is expected to hold drills in seven areas surrounding Taiwan proper over four days, rather than six areas, as China previously announced, the Maritime and Port Bureau said, adding that the additional area would be to the nation’s east.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
China’s Xinhua news agency reported that the drills were joint operations focused on “blockade, sea target assault, strike on ground targets and airspace control.”
Ma Chen-kun (馬振坤), a professor at National Defense University, said that the drills were aimed at demonstrating the PLA’s ability to deploy precision weapons to cut off Taiwan’s overseas links and facilitate the landing of troops.
The drills would be “more complete” than previous ones, he said.
Photo: AFP
“If the PLA actually invades Taiwan in an all-out invasion, the concrete actions it will take, it’s all in this particular exercise,” Ma said. “The main thing is they will cut off Taiwan’s links to the outside world, from their sea, they would suppress the coastal defense firepower.”
The US Navy said that its USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was operating in the Philippine Sea as part of “normal scheduled operations.”
Propaganda footage purportedly filmed during the drills indicated that DF-15B missiles were used, said Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), an analyst at the MND-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
The DF-15B, which entered Chinese service in about 2000, has a range of 600km and a circular error probable of 150m to 200m, meaning half the missiles would fall within that distance of a target, he said.
Predecessors of the DF-15B were fired during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995 and 1996, he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the drills, saying they threatened Taiwan’s national security, contributed to rising regional tensions, and caused disruptions in global trade and communications.
“The [foreign] ministry strongly condemns the Chinese imitation of North Korea’s behavior in conducting live-fire missile tests near another country’s sovereign waters and urges the communist regime to exercise self-control,” it said.
The global community should support Taiwan in defending the values of freedom and democracy, the rules-based international order, and a free and open Indo-Pacific region, it said.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) decried China’s persistent and deliberate escalation as causing harm to trade and the freedom of navigation.
The office urges reason and self-restraint in Beijing, he said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is coordinating the government’s response with that of Taiwan’s like-minded regional allies, he said, adding that all necessary and appropriate measures would be taken.
Taiwan would not compromise on the firm defense of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and the alliance of freedom, he said.
Taiwanese and the nation’s political parties should unite in solidarity with Taiwan’s democratic partners to stop China’s irrational and unilateral military actions, he added.
Japan also protested, as five Chinese ballistic missiles appeared to have landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“To have five Chinese missiles fall within Japan’s EEZ like this is a first,” Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi told reporters. “We have protested strongly through diplomatic channels.”
The zone stretches 200 nautical miles (370.4km) from the outer limits of Japan’s territorial seas. North Korean missiles have fallen within a different part of Japan’s EEZ in the past, including several earlier this year.
Additional reporting by Aaron Tu, Su Yung-yao and agencies
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique