Dozens of Chinese warplanes cross Taiwan Strait median line as China starts military drills

FUZHOU – At least 71 Chinese warplanes crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday as China began three days of military exercises around Taiwan to express anger at Taiwan

President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

The drills, announced the day after Ms Tsai returned from the US, had been widely expected after Beijing condemned the meeting with Mr Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

China views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

Beijing’s announcement came just hours after China hosted a visit by senior European leaders.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said it started the combat readiness patrols and “Joint Sword” exercises around Taiwan, having said earlier it would be holding them in the Taiwan Strait and to the north, south and east of the island “as planned”.

“This is a serious warning to the Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces’ collusion and provocation, and it is a necessary action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it added.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said, as at 4pm on Saturday, it spotted 71 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers, crossing the median line that normally serves as an unofficial barrier between the two sides, as well as nine Chinese ships.

China was using Ms Tsai’s US visit “as an excuse to carry out military exercises, which have seriously damaged regional peace, stability and security”, the ministry noted.

“The military will respond with a calm, rational and serious attitude, and will stand guard and monitor in accordance with the principles of ‘not escalating nor provoking disputes’ to defend national sovereignty and national security,” it said.

Chinese state television released what it said was footage of the drills, set to stirring martial music and showing warships at sea and mobile missile launchers being readied, though it did not show missiles being fired.

It said fighter aircraft went up armed with live weapons.

A senior US lawmaker pledged on Saturday to help train Taiwan’s armed forces and speed up the delivery of weapons.

Speaking at a lunch in Taipei hosted by Ms Tsai for his bipartisan delegation, Mr Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US was

there in strong support of Taiwan,

and that it was important that democracies stood together. 

“As the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, I sign off on all foreign military sales, including weapons to Taiwan, and I promise you, Madam President, we will deliver those weapons,” he said. 

‘Harass’ and ‘squeeze’

A senior Taiwan official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters the aircraft involved in the morning missions had crossed the median line only briefly.

The situation is as expected and manageable, and Taiwan’s government has rehearsed various scenarios for its response, the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Reporters in a seaside area near Fuzhou, which sits opposite the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, saw a Chinese warship firing shells onto a drill area on China’s coast, part of activities announced by China late on Friday.

Chinese state media said the drills were a rehearsal of an encirclement of Taiwan.

“The task force will simultaneously organise patrols and advances around Taiwan Island, shaping an all-round encirclement and deterrence posture,” state broadcaster CCTV said.

The report, published online, went on to detail the type of weaponry China was using during the drills.

CCTV said “long-range rocket artillery, naval destroyers, missile boats, air force fighters, bombers, jammers and refuellers” have all been deployed in the war games.

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, said in a commentary on Saturday that the government has “a strong ability to thwart any form of Taiwan independence secession”.

“All countermeasures taken by the Chinese government belong to China’s legitimate and legal right to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it noted.

Ms Tsai has repeatedly offered to hold talks with China but has been rebuffed as Beijing views her as a separatist. She says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Diplomacy and drills

China had threatened unspecified retaliation if the meeting with Mr McCarthy – second in line to succeed the US President, after the Vice-President – were to take place. Beijing staged war games around Taiwan, including missile launches, last August after

then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.

However, unlike in August, China has yet to announce whether it will also stage missile drills. In the previous instance, China published a map at the time it announced the drills, showing which maritime areas near Taiwan it would be firing into.

Taiwanese officials expected a less severe reaction to the McCarthy meeting, given that it took place in the US, but said they could not rule out the possibility of China staging more drills.

China’s announcement came hours after

French President Emmanuel Macron left China,

where he met President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders. Mr Macron urged Beijing to talk sense to Russia over the war in Ukraine.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, also in China this week to meet Mr Xi, said stability in the Taiwan Strait is of paramount importance.

Mr Xi responded by saying that expecting China to compromise on Taiwan is “wishful thinking”, according to China’s official reading of the meeting.

China’s Defence Ministry, as well as carrying the announcement of the drills around Taiwan, showed pictures on its home page of Mr Xi meeting Mr Macron and Ms von der Leyen.

The Taiwan security source said China’s recent efforts to charm foreign leaders are in vain after the announcement of the drills.

“Upon the announcement of drills in the strait, all those efforts have vanished overnight and become a wasted effort.” REUTERS