Thirteen Chinese warships and 68 warplanes were as of 5pm yesterday operating in the Taiwan Strait, with some planes crossing the median line on the second day of four-day drills in retaliation for US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Taiwanese jets escorted 49 Chinese aircraft out of the nation’s air defense identification zone, and troops using flares drove Chinese drones away over Kinmen County, it said
“Our government & military are closely monitoring China’s military exercises & information warfare operations, ready to respond as necessary,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Twitter. “I call on the international community to support democratic Taiwan & halt any escalation of the regional security situation.”
Photo: Johnson Lai, AP
China’s Xinhua news agency said fighters, bombers, destroyers and frigates were used in the “joint blockage operations.”
China on Thursday fired 11 Dongfeng missiles, including four reportedly crossing Taiwan proper at high altitude and five landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Commentators said that Taiwan’s Patriot-III systems could have targeted missiles entering the airspace over Taiwan, but the Dongfengs’ flight path was in outer space, too high for the Patriot systems.
Cyberattacks reached a peak on Tuesday, with methods changing over the past two days. Hackers are now targeting ministerial-level Web sites, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said, adding that the hackers sought to steal data, slow down traffic, block Web sites or change their content, but all attempts had been denied.
The government is on high alert, and the Executive Yuan’s National Center for Cyber Security Technology is working around the clock to assist government agencies in handling technical problems, he added.
The White House on Thursday said it would conduct air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks to defend international law.
The US plans include “standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait,” as Beijing is expected to continue its military activities in the Strait, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
The transits would be consistent with the US’ longstanding approach to defending freedom of the seas and international law, he added.
A strike group led by aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan would “remain on station in the general area to monitor the situation,” he said, confirming Twitter posts by the US Seventh Fleet that the group was in the Philippine Sea conducting “routine operations.”
It would stay “a little bit longer” than planned, Kirby said, adding that the US is “prepared for what Beijing chooses to do” and would continue to support Taiwan, in accordance with the “one China” policy.
The White House has postponed a long-planned test of a US Air Force Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing, he said.
“As China engages in destabilizing military exercises around Taiwan, the United States is demonstrating instead the behavior of a responsible nuclear power by reducing the risks of miscalculation and misperception,” Kirby said.
With a range of more than 9,660km, the nuclear-capable Minuteman III is key to the US’ strategic arsenal.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei and agencies
SOLIDARITY: A group of European lawmakers condemned China’s aggressive moves, while the foreign minister of Lithuania said Taiwan ‘cannot become a second Ukraine’ A German parliamentary delegation would visit Taiwan in the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker on Monday told visiting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) at the Bundestag in Berlin. Asked by Fan whether he is worried about possible reprisals from Beijing, such as banning him and his family from entering China, Becker said he is more interested in visiting Taiwan, as “now is the time for democracies to stand together.” Fan and Lin also met with German officials to exchange views on digital education and governance. Investing in digital infrastructure and protecting equal rights to
As China waged extensive military exercises off Taiwan, a group of US defense experts in Washington was focused on their own simulation of an eventual — but for now entirely hypothetical — US-China war over the nation. The unofficial what-if game is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring a US perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost. “The results are showing that under
‘SIMULATED ATTACKS’: Ten warships each from China and Taiwan were maneuvering at close quarters in the Taiwan Strait, with some Chinese vessels crossing the median line Taiwan yesterday reiterated that it would not succumb to pressure from Beijing after China carried out its most provocative military drills in decades in retaliation for US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan last week. “We will never bow to pressure. We uphold freedom and democracy, and believe Taiwanese disapprove [of] China’s bullying actions with force and saber rattling at our door,” Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday. China had “arrogantly” disrupted regional peace and stability, he said, calling on Beijing to not flex its military muscles. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has also called on the international community to “support
DRILLS CONTINUE: China’s creation of a restricted zone across the median line of the Taiwan Strait challenges a 70-year-old fact, a ministry of defense official said The nation’s military fully complies with international rules and guidelines when responding to Chinese military drills, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, vowing to continue defending Taiwan in accordance with international law. China on Thursday launched four days of military drills around Taiwan proper in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. The drills were expected to end on Sunday, but neither Beijing nor Taipei confirmed their conclusion, although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it had seen some evidence suggesting at least a partial drawdown. However, China yesterday said the drills would continue, saying “the
RSS