Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday.
Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions.
China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said.
Photo: Tu Chien-fa, Taipei Times
These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has the initiative in cross-strait affairs, he said.
The NSB will pay close attention to military drills Beijing might conduct and look for signs of change in the size and format of PLA exercises, he said.
An emerging trend for the PLA is to conduct nighttime joint combat readiness patrols with a more sophisticated mixture of aircraft and ships, he said.
It recently conducted three combat readiness patrols at night, in which landing ships, minesweepers and tanker aircraft were used, and performed aerial refueling to increase Chinese airplanes’ loiter time, Tsai said.
Taiwanese armed forces have adopted countermeasures against the observed changes in PLA activities, he said.
China stepped up gray zone incursions, dispatching government-operated ships to the waters near and around Taiwan, Tsai said, citing the incident in Kinmen in February that involved an unmarked Chinese speedboat.
The Chinese boat entered Taiwan’s restricted waters and capsized after colliding with a coast guard boat while fleeing, the Coast Guard Administration reported at the time.
Two of the boat’s four crew drowned. The Chinese sailors did not carry identity papers.
Tsai told a news conference held before the meeting that the PLA regularly schedules many large-scale drills from July to November.
Asked about Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning’s (王滬寧) remarks denying the existence of a timetable for invading Taiwan, Tsai said maintaining peace and stability in the Strait is the nation’s most important strategic aim.
Maintaining peace is in the national interest of both sides across the Strait, and Taiwan hopes it can work with China to promote goodwill and reduce the risks of an incident spiraling out of control, he said.
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