Staff writer, with CNA
Increased activity by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near Taiwan this week was likely not a response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent stopovers in the US, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said yesterday.
“The elevated activity in the East China Sea and South China Sea follows a broader increase in the PLA’s military posture and military exercises over the last several years. With that said, we do not see this wider activity as a response to President Lai’s transit,” an AIT spokesperson said.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
“We [the US] continue to call on the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to avoid any destabilizing or escalatory actions that might undermine regional peace and stability and will continue coordinating with allies and partners regarding our shared concerns,” the spokesperson said.
China from Monday to Wednesday designated seven areas east of Zhejiang Province and its Fujian Province as “temporary reserved” airspace, which typically indicates airspace reserved for military activities.
Foreign media reported that the PLA activity could mean another round of military exercises in response to Lai’s trip to the South Pacific from Nov. 30 to Friday last week, which included stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam.
The AIT said that although Beijing has not announced a “Joint Sword” military exercise in response to Lai’s transits, the elevated military activity in the region was consistent with levels the US has seen during other large exercises.
China’s latest military activity in the area followed the identification of 100 PLA aircraft operating around Taiwan in a 48-hour period starting at 6am on Monday.
The Ministry of National Defense earlier yesterday said that in the 24 hours to 6am, it had detected 34 Chinese military aircraft operating around the nation, down from 53 aircraft it reported the previous day.
However, there was a rise in PLA Navy ships in the area to 16 from 11 the prior day, the ministry said.
Twenty-two of the planes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and flew into Taiwan’s northern, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zone, a ministry map showed.
Two officials familiar with the security situation in the region said that PLA Navy and China Coast Guard vessels are moving north, showing signs that the forces are being pulled back.
The defence ministry later on Thursday night said that an emergency response centre set up earlier this week to deal with recent Chinese military activities had been disbanded, likely signalling the end of to China’s manoeuvres around the island.
Separately, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday told the DefenseScoop news Web site that the Pentagon is keeping a close eye on security conditions in and around Taiwan.
“Certainly, this latest activity is something that we will continue to monitor and make sure that nobody does anything to change the status quo in the [Taiwan Strait],” Austin told a news conference closing out a trip to Japan, the site reported.
“Our policy hasn’t changed. We’ll continue to do what we can to help Taiwan acquire the means to defend itself. Again, that work continues on. But this latest activity — we’ll continue to monitor it and see what happens,” he said.
Austin also expressed confidence that the U.S. military will continue to have the capacity and focus to deter China and work with its allies to promote peace around the Indo-Pacific, even as conflicts around the Middle East and in Ukraine continue to expand.
Additional reporting by Reuters
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNDER WAY: The contract for advanced sensor systems would be fulfilled in Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 2031, the Pentagon said Lockheed Martin has been given a contract involving foreign military sales to Taiwan to meet what Washington calls “an urgent operational need” of Taiwan’s air force, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The contract has a ceiling value of US$328.5 million, with US$157.3 million in foreign military sales funds obligated at the time of award, the Pentagon said in a statement. “This contract provides for the procurement and delivery of 55 Infrared Search and Track Legion Enhanced Sensor Pods, processors, pod containers and processor containers required to meet the urgent operational need of the Taiwan air force,” it said. The contract’s work would be
RSS