The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) could be ramping up on a provocative, large-scale military exercise to help conceal a rise in internal conflicts in Beijing, Taiwanese defense expert Shen Ming-shih (沈明室) said on Friday.
Analysts have suspected the PLAN intends to conduct a large-scale drill around the Dragon Boat Festival, which was yesterday, said Shen, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
A PLAN strike group, including the Liaoning aircraft carrier, was spotted approaching Taiwan from the East China Sea, eliciting countermaneuvers from a US Navy strike group based around the USS George Washington and the USS Nimitz aircraft carriers, he said.
Photo: Reuters
Beijing has acknowledged that the PLAN is conducting a “routine annual exercise,” but without divulging the name of the drill, its purpose or the ships involved, Shen said.
While few doubt China’s strategy of using drills to pressure Taiwan and the US, its more immediate motive might be due to turmoil rocking the PLA’s senior leadership, he said.
PLA General He Weidong (何衛東) and PLAN Admiral Miao Hua (苗華) reportedly had fallen out of favor with China’s Central Military Commission, while the commanders of the Eastern, Western and Northern Theater Commands are under investigation or have disappeared, he said.
A large, provocative exercise could provide Beijing with the optics it needs to cover up the chaos roiling in the military’s inner corridors, Shen said.
That Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) was recently seen observing a military exercise alone was another piece of evidence suggesting disarray in the PLA, he said.
Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun’s (董軍) absence from the Shangri-La Dialogue further implies that the PLA is more concerned with its internal stability than maintaining communication channels with US President Donald Trump, Shen said.
Unless Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) decides to make a desperate last stand, the chances of the CCP choosing to escalate tensions before resolving the issue of military leadership are low, Shen said.
The Chinese government is well aware that accidentally starting a war without a clear military leadership structure would spell disaster, he said.
The CCP’s 24th Central Committee Meeting would be the key event to observe, as internal conflicts are expected to be resolved by then, Shen said.
In 2022, the PLA launched a series of live-fire drills and simulated naval blockades targeting Taiwan following a visit to the nation by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, he said.
The exercises resulted in nothing of importance, proving that Beijing would go to great lengths to project an image of strength, he said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.