\n<\/p>\n
China has deployed air, navy and rocket troops to the waters around Taiwan for drills that its military said were aimed at testing combat readiness and delivering a \u201cstern warning\u201d against \u201cseparatist\u201d and \u201cexternal interference\u201d forces.<\/p>\n
The announcement on Monday came amid anger in Beijing over an $11.1bn weapons sale to Taiwan by the United States, as well as a statement by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who suggested that the Japanese military could get involved if China were to attack the self-governed island.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Beijing considers Taiwan as part of its territory and has pledged to take control of the island by force if necessary.<\/p>\n In a statement, the Chinese military\u2019s Eastern Theatre Command said it was dispatching army, navy, air force and rocket force troops to five zones around Taiwan for its \u201cJust Mission 2025\u201d, starting on Monday.<\/p>\n The live-fire exercises will begin on Tuesday in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, southwest, southeast and east of the island, it said.<\/p>\n Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command, said the activities will focus \u201con \u200btraining for maritime and aerial combat readiness patrols, gaining \u200cintegrated control, sealing off key ports and areas and conducting multi-dimensional deterrence\u201d. The drills serve \u201cas a serious warning to \u2018Taiwan Independence\u2019 separatist forces and external interference forces\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n A separate statement with a map showed five large zones surrounding the island where \u201clive firing activities will be organised\u201d from 8am to 6pm (00:00-10:00 GMT) on Tuesday. \u201cFor the sake of safety, any irrelevant vessel or aircraft is advised not to enter the afore-mentioned waters and airspace,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n The planned drills mark China\u2019s sixth major round of war games since 2022 \u2013 after then-US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan \u2013 and were described by the state-owned Xinhua news agency as \u201ca legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China\u2019s sovereignty and national unity\u201d.<\/p>\n The Chinese military \u2060said it had deployed fighter jets, bombers, unmanned aerial vehicles, and long-range rockets, and would practice striking mobile land-based targets.<\/p>\n Chinese vessels and aircraft will approach Taiwan \u201cin close proximity from different directions\u201d and troops of multiple services will \u201cengage in joint assaults to test their joint operations capabilities\u201d, according to Shi.<\/p>\n China\u2019s \u200cstate broadcaster added that the drills would focus on sealing off Taiwan\u2019s vital deep-water Port of Keelung to the island\u2019s north and Kaohsiung to Taiwan\u2019s south, the island\u2019s largest port city.<\/p>\n While the Chinese military has practised port blockades around Taiwan during war games last year, this marks the first time it has publicly stated that drills around the island are aimed at deterring foreign military intervention.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s government condemned the drills.<\/p>\n A presidential office spokesperson urged China not to misjudge the situation and undermine regional peace, and called on Beijing to immediately halt what they described as irresponsible provocations.<\/p>\n \u201cIn response to the Chinese authorities\u2019 disregard for international norms and the use of military intimidation to threaten neighbouring countries, Taiwan expresses its strong condemnation,\u201d said Karen Kuo, the spokesman for the presidential office.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s defence ministry said two Chinese military aircraft and 11 ships had been operating around the island over the last 24 hours, and that the island\u2019s military was on high alert and poised to carry out \u201crapid response exercises\u201d.<\/p>\n That particular drill is designed to move troops swiftly in case China suddenly turns one \u200bof its frequent drills around the island into an attack.<\/p>\n \u201cAll members of our armed forces will remain highly vigilant and fully on \u200cguard, taking concrete action to defend the values of democracy and freedom,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Chinese exercises come after the US announced earlier this month that it had approved $11.1bn in arms sales to Taiwan in the largest ever weapons package for the island.<\/p>\n The move drew a protest from China\u2019s Ministry of National Defence and warnings that the military would \u201ctake forceful measures\u201d in response.<\/p>\n Beijing last week also imposed sanctions against 20 US defense-related companies and 10 executives over the move.<\/p>\n The remarks from Takaichi, the Japanese prime minister, has also triggered a surge \u200din Chinese messaging stressing its sovereignty claims. Chinese President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart, Donald Trump, \u00a0in November that Taiwan\u2019s \u201creturn to China\u201d after World War Two was central to Beijing\u2019s vision of the global order.<\/p>\n Taiwan rejects China\u2019s claimed sovereignty, maintaining that only its people can decide the island\u2019s future.<\/p>\n In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te told Sanli E-Television that the island must continue to raise the cost of aggression and strengthen its indigenous defence capabilities to deter China, stressing that peace can only be secured through strength.<\/p>\n \u201cIf China sets 2027 as the year to be ready for an invasion of Taiwan, then we have only one choice: to keep raising the difficulty so that China can never meet that standard. Taiwan will naturally remain safe,\u201d Lai said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n China has deployed air, navy and rocket troops to the waters around Taiwan for drills that its military said were aimed at testing combat readiness and delivering a \u201cstern warning\u201d against \u201cseparatist\u201d and \u201cexternal interference\u201d forces. The announcement on Monday came amid anger in Beijing over an $11.1bn weapons sale to Taiwan by the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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