China has announced it will hold military drills around Taiwan simulating the seizure and blockade of the island's key areas, as a warning against "separatist forces".
The army, navy, air force and rocket force would be dispatched for the drills scheduled for Tuesday, which include live-fire exercises, the Chinese military said.
Codenamed "Justice Mission 2025", the drills are taking place days after the US announced the sale of one of its largest weapons packages to Taiwan worth $11bn . That move drew sharp protest from Beijing which in turn sanctioned US defence firms.
Taiwan's push to ramp up its defence this year has also angered Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory.
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China has deployed air, navy and rocket troops to the waters around Taiwan for drills that its military said were aimed at testing combat readiness and delivering a “stern warning” against “separatist” and “external interference” forces.
ReplyDeleteThe announcement on Monday came amid anger in Beijing over an $11.1bn weapons sale to Taiwan by the United States, as well as a statement by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who suggested that the Japanese military could get involved if China were to attack the self-governed island.
Beijing considers Taiwan as part of its territory and has pledged to take control of the island by force if necessary.
In a statement, the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said it was dispatching army, navy, air force and rocket force troops to five zones around Taiwan for its “Just Mission 2025”, starting on Monday.
The live-fire exercises will begin on Tuesday in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, southwest, southeast and east of the island, it said.
ReplyDeleteTaiwan's presidential office has criticised the upcoming Chinese drills, calling them a challenge to international norms.
ReplyDeleteTaiwan's defence ministry said that they detected Chinese aircraft and ships around Taiwan on Monday morning, and have deployed their own forces and missile systems to monitor the situation. Its forces are on "high alert" to defend Taiwan and "protect our people", the ministry said.
The planned drills mark China’s sixth major round of war games since 2022 – after then-US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan – and were described by the state-owned Xinhua news agency as “a legitimate and necessary action to safeguard China’s sovereignty and national unity”.
ReplyDeletePolls consistently show that most Taiwanese people want the "status quo", meaning they neither want to unify with China, nor to formally declare independence.
ReplyDeleteLa Chine a débuté, lundi, l'opération "Mission justice 2025" autour de Taïwan, des exercices militaires "majeurs" avec des tirs à munitions réelles. Taipei a condamné les "intimidations militaires" de Pékin et annoncé un déploiement en réponse.
ReplyDeleteL'escalade se poursuit entre Pékin et Taipei. La Chine a lancé, lundi 29 décembre, des exercices militaires autour de Taïwan baptisés "Mission Justice 2025", dans un contexte tendu notamment par une récente vente d'armes américaines à l'île, qui a indiqué déployer son armée en retour.
ReplyDeleteL'armée chinoise "utilise des destroyers, des frégates, des chasseurs, des bombardiers et des drones" dans le cadre de ces exercices, qui comprennent "des tirs à munitions réelles sur des cibles maritimes au nord et au sud-ouest de Taïwan", indique un communiqué du Commandement des zones orientales de l'Armée populaire de libération.