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
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central