Recent Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) activities are intended to display its “long reach” and test neighboring countries’ red lines, a national security official said today.
The actions could also be retroactively labeled as “Joint Sword-2024B” drills in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) Double Ten National Day comments, the official said on condition of anonymity, recalling the large-scale “Joint Sword-2024A” drills held after Lai’s inauguration on May 20.
One strategy is to conduct long-range missile tests with far enough reach to target countries in the first island chain, they said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The PLA usually only tests short and mid-range missiles, they said.
However, it on Sept. 25 test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific, in addition to other missiles with a range exceeding 5,000km from a base in the north, the official said.
The Ministry of National Defense on Sept. 29 said it had detected waves of missile tests at bases in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces.
The PLA has also increased activity in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, and conducted joint patrols with Russia for the first time last month in the northern Pacific in a bid to flaunt its reach, the official said.
The PLA is also pushing the limits of its “gray zone” activities to test other countries’ red lines, they said.
Examples of this include flying warplanes into Japanese airspace, sailing the Liaoning aircraft carrier near Okinawa and firing an ICBM, the official said.
The actions are likely intended to limit European presence and democratic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, and to give Beijing room for negotiation as countries including Japan and the US are facing leadership changes, they added.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
RSS