China’s provocations of Taiwan using “gray zone” tactics and military exercises have intensified regional tensions and shown that Beijing is the “troublemaker” threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, officials said yesterday.
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the comments a day after China launched what Beijing called “joint combat readiness patrols.”
The “troublemaker” description follows President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent public remarks in which he designated China as a “foreign adversary.” Beijing has previously called Taiwan a “troublemaker” in cross-strait relations.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Monday described the movements of Chinese aircraft and ships as “military exercises” in response to what it said is Lai promoting Taiwanese independence and separatism, and because of foreign interference.
The relatively large-scale patrols included more than two dozen Chinese military aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and dozens more flying into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in collaboration with Chinese naval vessels.
Asked to distinguish between “joint combat readiness patrol” and a “military exercise,” Koo said the “patrols” are usually conducted by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on a weekly basis and involve “more PLA Air Force and Navy assets, and Chinese naval vessels advance to 24 nautical miles [44km] off Taiwan’s coast.”
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
China conducted two joint combat readiness patrols on Monday, as it has resorted to any excuses it could find to justify its actions, Koo said.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered a different interpretation of the military patrols.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said the patrols were in response to “the US State Department’s alteration of documents on US-Taiwan relations” that endangered peace across the Strait.
Mao was apparently referring to the department’s change of a Taiwan-US relations fact sheet published on its Web site in the middle of last month. It removed a line indicating Washington’s long-held stance of not supporting Taiwanese independence.
In a statement issued late on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly condemned” China’s military action that it said jeopardized cross-strait peace and stability.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said China deployed 59 warplanes and nine vessels in Taiwan’s vicinity on Monday after a few days of relative calm.
Of those aircraft, more than two dozen crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and the others entered Taiwan’s ADIZ, a flight map released by the ministry showed.
Two balloons were also detected over waters just north of Taiwan between 6am Monday and 6am yesterday.
The ministry said it scrambled combat air and sea patrols, and deployed defense missile systems to track the Chinese military aircraft.
The ministry yesterday released footage of Taiwanese naval vessels monitoring the Chinese military ships operating around Taiwan, including a Keelung-class destroyer (formerly a Kidd-class destroyer) watching China’s Type 052D destroyer the Guilin.
It also showed surveillance photographs of Chinese attack drones and uncrewed aerial vehicles taken by a Taiwan air force F-16V jet and navy P-3C anti-submarine aircraft.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS