China's military has held the largest maneuvers of its Dong Hai No. 7 exercises so far, with tens of thousands of militiamen mobilized to augment regular troops in amphibious landing drills along the southeastern coast, defense sources in Taiwan said yesterday.
The militiamen and an unknown number of civilian ships were the key elements of a series of intensive amphibious landing drills on islands off Fujian Province, mainly Dongshan island, during the last week of July, the sources said.
The Chinese military did not send a large number of regular troops to participate in the drills, they said.
The Dong Hai No. 7 exercises, which have been going on since late April, are expected to climax at the end of this month.
China claims the annual exercises are for training purposes and that there is nothing unusual about them.
But the location, duration and nature of the Dong Hai exercises suggests otherwise, defense officials in Taiwan said.
Dongshan island is close to Taiwan and was the scene of large-scale amphibious landing exercises during the 1995 to 1996 crisis in the Taiwan Strait ahead of Taiwan's 1996 presidential election.
Defense officials also suggested that the Dong Hai exercises could be used as a prelude to a war with Taiwan, as they are conducted on a large scale and over a long time.
The officials also said that the amphibious landing exercises develop skills that the Chinese military could only apply in an assault on Taiwan.
Intelligence information initially indicated that this year's Dong Hai exercises might for the first time include a Russian military delegation.
Intelligence authorities thought Russia might send a small delegation at the end of July or the beginning of August for the exercises, but so far none has been detected.
However, defense officials said they have reason to believe the Russian military has conducted communication drills with its Chinese counterpart during the Dong Hai No. 7 exercises.
The communication drills are considered to be the first steps toward larger-scale cooperation.
The Dong Hai No. 7 exercises began in late April with communication drills off the southeastern coast of China, extending from Zhoushan island to Dongshan island.
During the drills, the Chinese military showcased an amphibious communication vehicle, which had been converted from a road vehicle.
However, defense sources consider the vehicle to be more of a public relations stunt than of any practical use, since it can not travel very far and can carry only low-power, short-distance communication equipment.
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