Taiwanese soldiers fire grenades during drills in Pingtung County on August 9, 2022 (AFP/Sam Yeh)
Taiwan’s military conducted a live ammunition artillery drill on Tuesday to simulate defending the island against a Chinese invasion the island has accused Beijing of planning.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw the start of operations in Pingtung County (south) with flares and artillery fire just after 00:40 GMT. The maneuvers ended around 01:30 GMT, said Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for Taiwan’s Eighth Corps.
The army said several hundred soldiers were deployed, along with around 40 howitzers. A new exercise is planned for Thursday.
Tuesday’s practice drew crowds of spectators.
“We must take countermeasures against the mainland blockade,” said Chen, who did not give his first name.
“Conducting military exercises will also show them that Taiwan is ready. I hope both sides can show some restraint,” he added.
China launched its largest military air and sea maneuvers around Taiwan last week in response to a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top US official to visit the self-governing island in decades.
Beijing “used the drills and its military roadmap to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” the head of Taiwanese diplomacy, Joseph Wu, accused during a news conference in Taipei following the Taiwanese maneuvers.
“China’s real intention is to transform the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and across the region,” he added.
“It conducts large-scale military drills and missile launches, as well as cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns and economic coercion to weaken the morale of Taiwanese people,” he continued.
China considers Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, to be one of its provinces that it has not successfully reunited with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War (1949).
Lou Woei-jye assured Monday that the Taiwanese exercises are already planned and that they are not in response to ongoing Chinese maneuvers.
Military exercises simulating a Chinese invasion are regularly held on the island.
– Biden “not concerned” –
The Taiwan exercises come after China extended its own joint sea and air maneuvers around the island on Monday.
As usual, they triggered a warning from Beijing.
“Any attempt to use armed force to oppose the course of history and reunification will inevitably meet with the firm resistance of the entire Chinese people. It would overestimate your abilities, show ruthlessness and be doomed to failure,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Tuesday.
Taiwanese soldiers fire grenades during drills in Pingtung County on August 9, 2022 (AFP/Sam Yeh)
Drills confirmed by the Chinese military continued on Tuesday involving air and sea units.
The People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said in a statement that it was conducting training exercises across the island “focused on joint blockade and support operations.”
Joseph Wu didn’t fail to thank his Western allies, including Nancy Pelosi, for standing up to China during his press conference.
“It also sends a clear message to the world that democracy will not give in to the bullying of authoritarianism,” he said.
No Chinese warplanes or ships entered Taiwan’s territorial waters — within 12 nautical miles of land — during the exercises in Beijing, Taiwan said.
Chinese military helicopters near Taiwan’s Pingtan island on August 4, 2022 as part of major military exercises (AFP / Hector RETAMAL)
However, last week the Chinese military released video of an Air Force pilot filming the island’s coastline and mountains from his cockpit, showing how close he had come to Taiwan’s shores.
Ballistic missiles were also fired over the Taiwanese capital Taipei during maneuvers last week, according to Chinese state media.
Chart showing Chinese military aircraft flights over Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone since September 2020, according to announcements by the island’s Defense Ministry via Twitter. (AFP/)
The scale and intensity of China’s exercises, as well as its withdrawal from international climate and defense negotiations, have sparked outrage in the United States and other Western countries.
But Beijing defended its behavior on Monday, calling it “firm, forceful and appropriate” in the face of the US provocation.
“(We) are only issuing a warning to those responsible” for this crisis, argued Wang Wenbin, promising that China will “resolutely break the illusion of the Taiwanese authorities that the United States will seek independence.”
However, Washington assessed the risk of escalation from Beijing as low. “I’m not worried, but I’m worried that they’re making such a fuss. But I don’t think they’re doing more than what they’re doing,” President Joe Biden told reporters.