China is building its capacity to rapidly turn military drills into a full-out attack, a senior Taiwan security official said, providing the government’s assessment of the strategic intent behind Beijing’s war games around Taiwan earlier this week.
China staged large-scale drills on Monday that it said were a warning to “separatist acts” following last week’s Double Ten National Day speech by President William Lai (賴清德).
Taiwan has for the past five years reported almost daily Chinese military activities around the nation, including at least four rounds of major war games and regular “joint combat readiness patrols.”
Photo: Greg Baker, AFP
“They are increasing the building up of their capacity to turn military exercises into a conflict,” the official said at a briefing in Taipei, requesting anonymity to be able to speak more frankly.
Taiwan reported a record 153 Chinese aircraft took part in the drills, and an unprecedented 25 Chinese navy and coast guard boats also approached close to Taiwan’s 39km contiguous zone.
“They approached very close to Taiwan. They increased their pressure on Taiwan and squeezed Taiwan’s response time,” the official said. “This drill presented more of a threat than ever before to Taiwan.”
China launched two missiles toward an unspecified inland area, the official said without providing further details.
“Although they did not fire missiles toward Taiwan this time, they did practice missile launches,” the official said.
China’s Ministry of National Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It vowed on Monday to take further action as needed against Taiwan, while China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday said Beijing would never commit to renouncing the use of force over Taiwan.
The Taiwan official said their own intelligence had detected signs of China’s drills ahead of time and deployed assets, including mobile missile launchers, to strategic spots before Beijing announced the war games about dawn on Monday.
China holds three to four “joint combat readiness patrols” per month around Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report to the legislature yesterday, describing the move as “provocation and increasing the threat to our military.”
Asked when China could hold its next war games, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said it could be at any time and under any pretext.
“This shows their hegemonic nature, which we can all see very clearly,” Koo said.
The military has already included a plan, in its annual Han Kuang war games, on ways to counter a compressed response time in case China suddenly turns its drills into a real attack, he added.
Beijing’s war games presented a “big threat,” because through the drills, China’s military was quickly building up its mobilization and combat capabilities, a Taipei-based diplomat familiar with security issues in the region said.
“The permanent state of readiness is getting higher and higher — they can switch from nothing to drills to war in no time,” the diplomat said, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
China’s recent war games have not caused undue alarm for most Taiwanese, nor did they impact financial markets.
Asked by a lawmaker at a separate legislative session yesterday about the possibility of war with China, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said they have “appropriate preparations,” without elaborating.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated