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China launches integrated ‘assault drills’ near Taiwan
The PLA’s eastern theatre command said it dispatched anti-submarine aircraft, jets and battleships near the maritime and airspace of southwest and southeast of Taiwan to test the troops’ integrated joint operation capabilities
China deployed warships and fighter aircraft near self-ruled Taiwan on Tuesday in what it called “assault drills” against alleged provocations by Taiwanese secessionists supported by the US.
The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) eastern theatre command (ETC) said it dispatched anti-submarine aircraft, jets and battleships near the maritime and airspace of southwest and southeast of Taiwan to test the troops’ integrated joint operation capabilities.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan and doesn’t rule out reunifying the island by force. It resents any official ties between Taipei and other countries, arguing that such relations violate the “one China” policy.
Beijing believes Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has a separatist bent on a formal declaration of independence with the support of the US.
Earlier this month, Beijing lashed out at Washington after it finalised the sale of 40 medium self-propelled howitzer artillery systems to Taiwan in a deal valued at $750 million.
Beijing will take legitimate and necessary counter-measures in light of the development of the situation, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
On Tuesday’s development, the PLA’s ETA said in a statement the deployment was carried out with “joint fire assault and other drills using actual troops”.
“Recently, the US and Taiwan have repeatedly provoked and sent serious wrong signals, severely infringed upon China’s sovereignty and severely undermined the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, which has become the biggest source of security risks across the Taiwan Strait,” the command spokesperson Shi Yi said.
“This exercise is a necessary action based on the current security situation across the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty,” he added.
Taiwan’s defence ministry, according to Reuters news agency, gave a short response, saying, “The nation’s military has a full grasp and has made a full assessment of the situation in the Taiwan Strait region, as well as related developments at sea and in the air, and is prepared for various responses.”
Tuesday’s drills took place days after the ETC carried out combat exercises in the Taiwan Straits and surrounding waters to verify and boost its inter-service joint operation capability.
Units from multiple services took part in the exercises in the straits, including their northern and southern ends, senior colonel Zhang Chunhui, the command’s spokesman, said in a statement published last week.
China Daily quoted Zhang as saying that they were “a necessary move responding to the current security situation in the Taiwan Straits and were meant to safeguard national sovereignty”.
The statement did not use a description often employed to describe such operations - “a routine exercise included in the PLA’s annual training plan”.
