The military four times last month drove away Chinese forces attempting to approach the nation’s sensitive contiguous zone in a ramped-up campaign by Beijing to “intimidate” voters before key elections, security officials said.
Officials have repeatedly said that China is trying to sway voters toward candidates seeking closer ties with Beijing, which has framed the Jan. 13 presidential and legislative elections as a choice between “peace and war” and urged Taiwanese to make the “right choice.”
Over the past four years, Taiwan has reported regular Chinese military incursions.
Photo: Screen grab from Taiwan ADIZ Facebook page
China has stepped up such missions as election campaigning has kicked into high gear, security officials and Taipei-based diplomats have said.
Last month, China’s air and naval forces staged four coordinated maneuvers that appraoched Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which is 24 nautical miles (44km) from its coast, said multiple security officials and an internal Taiwanese memo summing up China’s activities.
The Chinese military maneuvers were part of a “multi-front campaign of voting interference” that included exchange activities with Taiwanese politicians and the spread of misinformation to sway public opinion, the memo said.
The contiguous zone drills were “simulating an intrusion and testing the response of our national military,” said one of the officials, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Taiwan dispatched forces to drive the Chinese away, the source said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and Ministry of National Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
Chinese activities last month also included balloons that crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait for two days in a row, as well as marine research ships approaching close to the contiguous zone off Taiwan’s eastern and western shores, the officials said.
A Chinese commercial tugboat also entered Taiwan’s territorial waters in the south, which are 12 nautical miles from its coast, they said.
“Through these military and non-military [maneuvers], they were making a statement that they can do something to Taiwan anytime while keeping the tensions up,” an official said. “It is evident psychological warfare. They are spreading the message of peace and war every day.”
A second official described the Chinese maneuvers as part of Beijing’s escalating campaign of “gray zone” warfare, seeking to wear Taiwan down with repeated drills and to “intimidate” voters.
“They want to make it look like their prophecy might come true,” the person said, referring to the narrative that if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) stays in power, a war with China is likely.
Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the DPP’s presidential candidate, and DPP vice presidential candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are leading in the polls. China has rebuffed Lai’s offers of talks.
The Ministry of National Defense said that 12 Chinese fighter jets and a suspected weather balloon had crossed the median line last week.
Taiwan on Monday sent its forces to monitor a Chinese carrier strike group, led by the aircraft carrier Shandong, sailing through the Taiwan Strait.
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
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS