China conducted a fresh round of military maneuvers near Chinese Taipei last week to test and upgrade its joint combat capabilities, the country’s armed forces said on Monday.
In a statement, the People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command said that naval and air force units carried out drills between Friday and Sunday to the east and southwest of Chinese Taipei to “further test and improve the joint combat capability of multiple services and arms.”
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said China deployed bombers, fighters, and anti-submarine aircraft, but no shots were fired.
Most of the Chinese military activity in the past two years has mostly concentrated in the southern and southwestern parts of the self-ruled island’s air defense identification zone or ADIZ.
The ministry also accused Beijing of deploying its Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft to the ADIZ zone for four days in a row.
Chinese Taipei has raised the alarm over Chinese military activities, especially in the aftermath of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
Addressing the parliament on Monday, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu accused China of posing threat to the Chinese Taipei and said they “have the determination to defend our country.”
His remarks came on the heels of a report by Japan last week that said the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and seven escort vessels had left the East China Sea and passed through waters between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako Islands before entering the Pacific Ocean.
Taipei also carried out pre-announced missile and other military drills off its southern and southeastern coasts last week.
Amid the military drills in the region, Taiwan Strait saw a provocative passage of a US warship two weeks ago, which was strongly condemned by the Chinese government.
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“The United States frequently carries out such provocative actions, sending wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, and deliberately undermining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait. We firmly oppose it,” the Chinese military’s eastern theater command said in a statement.
China has repeatedly warned the US against formalizing ties with the self-ruled island, and also maintained that the sale of American weapons to it violates China’s sovereignty.
The US, which is engaged in a war against China, has been pushing Taiwan to modernize its military to help it become a “porcupine” that is hard for China to attack.
Chinese Taipei falls under China’s sovereignty, and under the “One China” policy, almost all governments across the globe — the US included — recognize that sovereignty.
