China yesterday simulated “sealing off” Taiwan during a third day of war games around the nation, while the US deployed a naval destroyer into the South China Sea in a show of force.
China launched the exercises on Saturday in response to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, an encounter it had said would provoke a furious response.
After two days of exercises that included simulating targeted strikes on Taiwan and encirclement of the nation, the Chinese military said the war games also included “sealing” it off, and Chinese state media reported that dozens of planes had practiced an “aerial blockade.”
Photo: AFP/ Ministry of National Defense
The People’s Liberation Army said that one of China’s two aircraft carriers — the Shandong — also took part in combat patrols and showed fighters taking off from its deck.
The US, which had repeatedly called for China to show restraint, yesterday sent the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer through contested parts of the South China Sea.
“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea,” the US Navy said in a statement.
Photo: AFP / Ministry of National Defense
The ship sailed within 12 nautical miles (22km) of Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁), where China has its largest outpost on artificial islands in the South China Sea and the closest to Philippine territory.
“These operations demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows — regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events,” the statement said.
The deployment of the Milius triggered more anger from China, which said the vessel had “illegally intruded” into its territorial waters.
Photo: AFP / Ministry of National Defense
Beijing asserts it has rights to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, whose other claimants are Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines. The US as well as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague have refused to recognize China’s claims.
China yesterday released a short video on WeChat showing an H-6 bomber flying in what it said was the skies north of Taiwan.
“The missiles are in good condition,” an unidentified voice says, as the video shows images from the cockpit of a missile under the aircraft’s wing.
Photo: AFP / US Navy / Omar-Kareem Powell
It then shows a pilot readying the fire control button for what it described as a simulated attack, and then pressing the button, though it did not show any missiles being fired.
The military has repeatedly said that it would respond calmly to China’s drills and not provoke conflict.
A report by the Military News Agency yesterday said that the military also stepped up its guard by having marines move an anti-ship missile vehicle unit into a tactical position and dispatching missile boats to prepare for an emergency drill.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
During the exercise, the Marine Corps guarded the Haifeng Missile Brigade to complete the deployment, while Hsiung Feng II Anti-Ship Missile System was on standby to track and target, the report said.
“Through joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts, the military closely monitored the enemy’s situation at sea and maintained a high degree of vigilance around the clock,” it said.
Meanwhile, several Kuang Hua VI-class missile boats left port to practice tactical movements and engagement procedures, and bolster their ability to respond to emergencies, it added.
Separately yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense also released pictures of mobile launchers for Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles at an undisclosed location, as well as missile-armed fast attack boats at sea.
The military also used mission aircraft and ships as well as shore-mounted air defense and anti-ship missile systems to closely monitor and respond to the whereabouts of the Shandong fleet, which conducted flight training in the west Pacific, the ministry said in a statement.
“As the Chinese Communist Party continues to threaten and harass the country with aircraft and ships, which also threatens the regional situation, our servicemen and women adhere to the principle of neither escalating conflicts nor causing disputes, closely monitor the situation and cope with challenges calmly,” Navy Command Headquarters said in a statement.
The ministry said that as of 6pm yesterday, 91 military aircraft and 12 ships had been detected in areas around Taiwan, including 54 warplanes that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or flew into the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
Meanwhile, Japan yesterday said that it had scrambled jets in recent days as Chinese planes landed and took off from the Shandong.
Jets and helicopters took off and landed on the carrier 120 times from Friday to Sunday, with the carrier, three other warships and a support vessel coming within 230km of Japan’s Miyako island, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said.
Japan has been following China’s military drills around Taiwan “with great interest,” a government spokesperson said yesterday.
Japan has long worried about China’s military activities in the area given how close southern Japanese islands are to Taiwan.
The southern Japanese island of Okinawa hosts a major US air force base and in August last year when China staged war games to protest the visit of then-US house speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, Chinese missiles landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS