China’s recent large-scale military exercises around Taiwan were “provocative” and destabilizing, not just regionally, but also internationally, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
The exercises on Thursday and Friday were a unilateral military move by China that destabilized the peace and stability of the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait and challenged the international order, Presidential Office spokesperson Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) said in a statement.
China’s actions have drawn serious concern and condemnation from the international community, Kuo added.
Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched the two-day series of joint military drills in areas surrounding Taiwan three days after the inauguration of President William Lai (賴清德).
The “Joint Sword-2024A” drills were conducted in the Taiwan Strait, and to the north, south and east of Taiwan proper, as well as in areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Kuo said that maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific region and the Taiwan Strait is in the interest of the international community and is also a global consensus.
Photo: AFP / the Ministry of National Defense
Lai and his national security team had been closely monitoring the situation and devising appropriate responses to safeguard national security, she added.
In his inauguration speech, Lai said that “if the leader of a country puts the people’s welfare above all, then peace in the Taiwan Strait, mutual benefits, and prosperous coexistence would be common goals.”
He also urged China to stop its military actions against Taiwan and to take joint responsibility to maintain peace and stability in the Strait and surrounding areas.
On Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said that China was engaging in “irrational provocation.”
China’s exercises focused on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrol, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control and joint precision strikes on key targets, said Xinhua, citing Colonel Li Xi (李熹), spokesman for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command.
It was the third time in two years that China has staged large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, following its unprecedented drills in August 2022, after then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and another round in April last year, after then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with then-US House speaker Kevin McCarthy during a transit stop in the US.
The Ministry of National Defense said 111 Chinese aircraft and dozens of naval vessels took part in this week’s drills.
On Friday evening, the Chinese army published images of the drills’ “highlights,” featuring missile launch trucks ready to fire, fighter jets taking off and naval officers looking through binoculars at Taiwanese ships.
Major General Meng Xiangqing (孟祥青), a professor from Beijing-based National Defense University, told Xinhua that PLA vessels “were getting closer to the island [Taiwan] than ever before.”
The UN called for all sides to avoid escalation.
Paraguay yesterday said through a communique issued by its embassy in Taipei that it “observes with concern and condemns the military exercises carried out by the People’s Republic of China in the vicinity of the Republic of China (Taiwan). These constitute a serious threat to the balance in the region.”
The US on Thursday “strongly” urged China to act with restraint.
The Pentagon on Friday announced that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin would meet Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) at the end of the month at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of defense officials from around the world in Singapore.
Austin’s meeting with Dong had been widely expected since he last month spoke to Dong by telephone, in what were the first substantive talks between the two powers’ defense chiefs in nearly 18 months.
An unauthorized drone intrusion over Ching Chuan Kang Air Base (清泉崗基地) at Taichung International Airport on Tuesday night forced the temporary closure of the base, diverting eight fighter jets and delaying a commercial flight, authorities said. Air Force Command Headquarters said that clear weather had allowed for scheduled night training exercises, but after a drone was spotted entering the airspace, the control tower declared an emergency closure of the airport, forcing eight Indigenous Defense Fighter jets in the air to divert and land at Hsinchu Air Base (新竹基地). Taichung airport director Chang Jui-shu (張瑞澍) said the airspace intrusion lasted from 7:37pm to
The air force plans to build 26 more hardened aircraft shelters as the number of F-16Vs stationed along Taiwan’s east coast is expected to reach 120 when the final shipment of 66 jets procured from the US arrives. The incoming jets would be stationed at Chihhang Air Base in Taitung County, augmenting the F-16V Block 20s operated by the 5th Tactical Fighter Wing in Hualien County, officials said yesterday. The air force plans to allocate more than NT$6.88 billion (US$218.1 million) from next year to 2031 to build the shelters in Hualien and Taitung as part of the implementation of a “one
Indonesian rescuers searched for eight people who went missing at sea while heading to a volcanic island to report on an eruption there, officials said yesterday. Anak Krakatau initially erupted for about 25 hours over the weekend, and it has since continued to erupt intermittently with explosions ejecting lava, ash and incandescent volcanic material from the crater, the Indonesian Geology Agency said in a statement. A speedboat carrying five photojournalists, two crew members and a route guide lost contact after leaving Carita, a coastal town in Banten Province, for the volcanic island, Banten Province Search and Rescue Office Chief Al Amrad said. He
NO LIMITS: More legislation expanding Beijing’s control over the movement of people, money and information raises risks for Taiwanese travelers and businesses, officials said China is set to implement several laws in the coming months that expand the definition of national security, creating greater risks for Taiwanese traveling to or doing business in China, Taiwanese officials said yesterday. Beijing’s Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law took effect on July 1, while a draft “Internet Information Service Management Measures” finished its public consultation on Aug. 2, but has yet to be adopted. China’s Regulations of the State Council on Exit and Entry Administration are to take effect on Tuesday next week, while amendments to its National Defense Mobilization Law and the Ministry of Public Security’s Measures
RSS