Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Taiwan to Hold Drills Simulating ‘Enemy Invasion’ amid Rising Tensions with Beijing - Tasnim News Agency

(Tasnim) – Taiwan will conduct military exercises envisioning an attack from Mainland China, part of yearly war games that include computer-simulations as well as live-fire drills, which come amid simmering tensions with Beijing.



The island will carry out the first leg of its largest annual military drills, the Han Huang exercises, between April 23 and 30, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, noting that the second phase would come in July and include real-world field maneuvers, RT reported.

“The drills are designed based on the toughest enemy threats, simulating all possible scenarios on an enemy invasion on Taiwan,” Major General Liu Yu-Ping said at a press conference, adding that the simulated portion of the exercise would run around the clock.

A Defense Ministry press release also said the live-fire drills set for July would focus on strengthening “overall air defense, joint naval operations, combat readiness, runway fighter take-off and landing” and “joint anti-landing operations,” among other things.

The announcement comes soon after Beijing carried out a round of drills not far from Taiwan, which it considers a rebellious province of China proper, saying such maneuvers would soon become routine. The exercises saw an aircraft carrier group transit in the vicinity of the island, prompting Taipei to claim the aircraft violated its airspace. Beijing has repeatedly staged fly-overs in recent weeks, with Taiwan reporting 20 craft over its airspace in a single day last month.

The US Navy sent its own carrier strike group into the South China Sea not long after the Chinese operation, the second such visit this year. Washington has actively backed Taiwan in its longstanding row with the mainland, agreeing in March to set up a “coast guard working group,” the island’s first such deal with the Joe Biden administration.

While Biden has yet to replicate the flurry of arms sales to Taiwan approved under ex-US President Donald Trump, he has taken an increasingly tough tone toward Beijing – insisting in late March that he would hold it accountable for alleged transgressions in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and its Xinjiang province – and is also working to revitalize the ‘Quad’ alliance. Made up of the US, Australia, Japan, and India, the bloc was created as a bulwark against China in the Asia Pacific, and revived by Trump after a lengthy hiatus. 

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 Sky News host Chris Smith says "another day, another aggressive manoeuvre by China" as it ramps up threats to take control of Taiwan.

2 comments:

  1. he Taiwanese defense ministry issued radio warnings and readied missile systems as 15 Chinese aircraft entered the island’s air defense identification zone on Wednesday. That’s as a US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait.

    Tensions in the South China Sea rose further on Wednesday as Chinese aircrafts buzzed Taiwanese airspace and a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait. Among the 15 aircraft sighted on Wednesday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said there were two KJ-500, a third-generation airborne early warning and control aircraft, one Yunshuji-8 tactical transport aircraft and 12 fighter jets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The US Navy confirmed that the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain conducted a “routine” transit of the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, demonstrating its “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” Beijing has previously spoken of its dissatisfactions with US military maneuvers in the South China Sea, adding it is “ready to respond to all threats and provocations at any time.”

      Also speaking on Wednesday, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters at his ministry that “we are willing to defend ourselves without any questions and we will fight the war if we need to fight the war. And if we need to defend ourselves to the very last day we will defend ourselves to the very last day.”

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