Taiwan: a series of live-fire exercises begins to simulate the response to Chinese attacks

Taiwan’s military will hold a series of live-fire exercises this month to simulate responding to amphibious and naval attacks by China. This was reported by the Hong Kong newspaper “South China Morning Post”, recalling that the maneuvers come two weeks after the vast two-day “punitive” exercises launched by Beijing last month around the island of Taiwan after the inauguration of the new president Lai Ching-te. Furthermore, only yesterday the Chinese Defense Minister, Dong Jun, declared at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore that “anyone who dares to divide Taiwan from China will be torn to pieces.” The Taiwan Army’s Eighth Command, based in the south of the island, will conduct an anti-amphibious landing live-fire exercise on Xishu Beach, not far from the city of Tainan, starting Wednesday, June 5.

These maneuvers will be followed by a similar exercise conducted by the Sixth Command, based in the north, on Zhongfu beach on June 18th. Furthermore, the Tenth Command, in central Taiwan, will conduct live-fire exercises on Caocuo Beach, near the city of Taichung, on June 26. On the same day, the Defense Command of Matsu, an archipelago of 19 islands in the Strait administered by Taipei, will start three days of exercises between the islets of Beigan and Gaodeng. All these maneuvers will involve land-based weapons systems, including armored vehicles and anti-tank rockets. Finally, the Taiwanese Navy will conduct four days of live-fire exercises with anti-ship weapons in waters south of the city of Kaohsiung, between June 12 and 13 and then between June 25 and 26.

The Taiwan dossier was the focus of a meeting last week between the United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austinand the Chinese counterpart Dong Jun. To the latter, the Pentagon chief expressed Washington’s concern about China’s “provocative military activities” around Taiwan. This was reported in a statement by the spokesperson of the US Department of Defense, Pat Ryder, on the sidelines of the meeting between the two ministers which took place in Singapore. Austin told his counterpart that China “should not use Taiwan’s political transition – part of the ordinary democratic process – as a pretext for coercive action.” Austin reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, but also reiterated that the United States “maintains the long-standing One China Policy” that recognizes Beijing as China’s sole legitimate government.

The meeting took place in a troubled regional context: Beijing, which currently has the largest navy in the world, unilaterally claims sovereignty over large portions of the East and South China Seas, and contests the progressive strengthening of regional military alliances undertaken from the United States with their key regional partners, such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Earlier this month, China staged large-scale military maneuvers around Taiwan in response to the inauguration of the island’s new democratically elected president, Lai Ching-te, who Beijing believes is a member of the Taiwanese independence movement. Furthermore, in recent weeks, naval skirmishes between China and the Philippines have intensified, and the Chinese Coast Guard has gone so far as to use water cannons against Manila vessels in the disputed Spratly archipelago. Beijing has also denounced what it sees as provocative actions by the United States and its allies, including the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile system in the Philippines last month as part of joint military exercises.

Related posts