Chinaโs military conducted โshooting trainingโ off Taiwanโs southwest coast on Wednesday, a move Taipei condemned as provocative and dangerous, while a senior Chinese leader reaffirmed Beijingโs unwavering commitment to bringing the island under its control.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has repeatedly complained of Chinese military activities, including several rounds of full-scale war games during the past three years.
โCombat Readiness Drillโ
Shortly before 9 a.m. (0100GMT), Taiwanโs defence ministry said in a statement, it had detected 32 Chinese military aircraft carrying out a โjoint combat readiness drillโ with Chinese warships in the Taiwan Strait area.
โDuring this period it even blatantly violated international practice by setting up a drills area in waters about 40 nautical miles (74 km) off the coast โฆ without prior warning, claiming that it would carry out โshooting trainingโ,โ the ministry added.
Taiwanโs major southwestern population centres of Kaohsiung and Pingtung are both home to important naval and air bases. Kaohsiung is also home to Taiwanโs largest port, a busy hub for global shipping.
โBlatant Provocationโ
The exercises endanger the safety of international flights and shipping and are a โblatant provocationโ to regional peace and stability, the ministry said, adding that it had dispatched its own forces to keep watch.
There was no immediate confirmation from China that it was carrying out new drills around Taiwan and its defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Chinaโs other recent military activity in the region, such as that off Australiaโs coast, are โproof that China is the only, and the greatest, threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific,โ Taiwanโs ministry said.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its rule, and has denounced both President Lai Ching-te, who took office last year, as a โseparatistโ, and the United States for its support for Taiwan.
โReunificationโ
Earlier on Wednesday, Chinaโs official Xinhua news agency said the ruling Communist Partyโs fourth-ranked leader, Wang Huning, had called this week for greater effort in the cause of Chinese โreunificationโ.
China must โfirmly grasp the right to dominate and take the initiative in cross-strait relations, and unswervingly push forward the cause of reunification of the motherlandโ, it quoted Wang as telling an annual meeting on work related to Taiwan.
Taiwanโs government rejects Beijingโs sovereignty claims, saying only the islandโs people can decide their future.
Severed Undersea Cables
Taiwan and China have traded barbs also traded barbs this week over the severing of an undersea communications cable off the islandโs southwest coast.
Taiwan on Tuesday detained a Chinese-linked cargo ship, flagged in Togo, suspected of involvement, though Chinaโs government said Taiwan was โmanipulatingโ possible Chinese involvement, saying the island was casting aspersions before the facts were clear.
Before being detained by Taiwanโs coast guard, the Chinese-crewed Hong Tai 58 was already on a monitoring list of 52 China-linked vessels that Taiwan security agencies suspect pose a threat to cables because of their past activities near Taiwan, two Taiwan officials familiar with the matter told Reuters.
This is the fifth case of sea cable malfunctions this year for Taiwan. It reported three such cases in 2024 and 2023.
Taiwan has pointed to similarities between what it has experienced and damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea after Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine.
(With inputs from Reuters)