World News | Chinese military ‘ready for battle’ after drill near Taiwan

TAIPEI, April 11 (AP) — China’s military announced Monday that it is “combat ready” after completing a three-day, massive combat exercise around Taiwan that simulated a visit by Taiwan’s president last week. Blockade of the island of Taiwan by the United States.

The Chinese military said earlier that the “combat readiness patrol” called “United Sword” was aimed at sending a warning to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

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“The troops in the theater are ready to fight at any time, are ready to fight at any time, and resolutely smash any form of “Taiwan independence” and foreign interference plots,” it said on Monday.

The exercises are similar to those China conducted last August, when it launched missile strikes on targets in the waters around Taiwan in retaliation for a visit to Taiwan by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but on a smaller and less destructive scale.

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Military experts said the drills were both a form of intimidation and an opportunity for the Chinese military to practice blocking Taiwan by blocking sea and air traffic, an important strategic choice the Chinese military might take if it used force to seize Taiwan.

The Chinese move comes as President Tsai Ing-wen, on a delicate mission to bolster Taiwan’s dwindling diplomatic alliances in Central America and boost its U.S. support, ended a sensitive meeting in California with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. After Tsai returned home, a U.S. congressional delegation also met with her in Taiwan over the weekend.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated the position of President Joe Biden’s administration that Tsai’s transit through the U.S. and a congressional visit to Taiwan is not unusual. Tsai Ing-wen made six stops in the United States between 2016 and 2019.

“There is no justification for a military response in any way,” he said. “There is no reason for tensions in the Taiwan Strait to escalate into any kind of conflict.”

China responded immediately to the McCarthy meeting by imposing a travel ban and financial sanctions on those involved in Tsai’s visit to the United States and ramping up military activity throughout the weekend.

“China hopes to train its military under the pretext of increased U.S.-Taiwan diplomatic interactions,” said Guo Yuren, a defense studies expert and director of Taiwan’s National Policy Research Institute.

Beijing says contacts between foreign officials and Taiwan’s democratic government have encouraged Taiwanese who want formal independence, a move China’s ruling Communist Party says will lead to war. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war, with the Communist Party saying the island was obliged to rejoin the mainland, by force if necessary.

After Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China launched missile strikes on targets in the waters surrounding Taiwan, and at the same time sent warships and fighters across the center line of the Taiwan Strait. It also escalated the situation by firing missiles at the island itself, which fell in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The live-fire drills have disrupted flights and shipping on one of the world’s busiest trade routes. This time around, shipping and sea traffic are basically going on as usual, Guo said.

This time around, the exercise focused more on air power, with Taiwan reporting more than 200 flights by Chinese warplanes over the past three days. China’s state broadcaster CCTV quoted the People’s Liberation Army as saying the exercise was a “simulated joint blockade” of Taiwan and “wave after wave of simulated strikes” on key targets in Taiwan.

On Monday, the People’s Liberation Army said its Shandong aircraft carrier would take part in a drill encircling Taiwan for the first time. It showed a video of a fighter jet taking off from the deck of a warship in a post on the social media platform Weibo.

Han Ganming, a research fellow at the government-backed National Defense and Security Institute, said the presence of the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific showed it could be used to deter foreign forces from helping Taiwan.

“If there are similar military exercises in the future, then Taiwan will have to face it alone,” Han said.

A total of 70 planes were spotted between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday, half of which crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial border that was once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry. Among the aircraft crossing the center line were eight J-16 fighter jets, four J-1 fighter jets, eight Su-30 fighter jets and reconnaissance planes. Taiwan also tracked the J-15 fighter jets paired with the Shandong carrier.

By Monday night, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense reported 91 more flights by bombers, multiple fighter jets, early warning aircraft and military transport aircraft.

Eight warships and 71 aircraft were spotted near Taiwan throughout the day from Friday to Saturday, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry. It said in a statement that it was handling the situation from a “no escalation, no dispute” perspective.

Taiwan says it monitors China’s actions with land-based missile systems as well as its own naval vessels.

China’s military harassment of Taiwan has intensified in recent years, with planes or ships heading to the island on an almost daily basis, increasing in number as it responds to sensitive activity. Since Pelosi’s visit, military activity has picked up a notch, with PLA fighter jets routinely flying over the middle border line. People’s Liberation Army Navy ships routinely sail in waters off the coast of northeastern Taiwan, experts say.

Meanwhile, south of the South China Sea, the U.S. Seventh Fleet said its guided-missile destroyer USS Milius sailed near Mischief Reef in a freedom of navigation operation. China has built an artificial island on a reef in the South China Sea to assert its sovereignty over disputed territory.

According to a statement from the Chinese military’s Southern Command, China said the United States had “illegally intruded” into waters near the coral reef without permission from the Chinese government.

Beyond the military drills, Guo said he was concerned by an announcement last week by the Fujian Provincial Maritime Safety Administration that it would conduct “on-site inspections” of cargo and work boats in the Taiwan Strait as part of a patrol exercise.

“First they’ll target ships sailing between straits, then they’ll target any international ships,” he said. “This will gradually become the de facto new status quo.”

A U.S. representative who attended a meeting with Tsai last week said on Saturday that the U.S. must take seriously the threat China poses to Taiwan. Republican Mike Gallagher, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on China, told The Associated Press that he plans to lead his committee’s efforts to strengthen Taiwan’s government’s defenses and encourage Congress to expedite military aid to the island. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)