China Ends Taiwan Drills After Practicing Blockades, Precision Strikes

Jet fighters that took off from China's Shandong aircraft carrier are seen, south of Okinawa prefecture, Japan, in this handout released by the Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan on April 10, 2023. Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan/Handout via Reuters

TAIPEI—China ended three days of military drills around Taiwan on Monday saying they had tested integrated military capabilities under actual combat conditions, having practiced precision strikes, and blockading the self-ruled island.

Taiwan responded to Beijing’s announcement by saying it would “never relax” its efforts to strengthen combat readiness and would closely monitor China’s missile forces and movements of the Shandong aircraft carrier.

Beijing began the drills on Saturday after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The Chinese regime claims the island as its own, despite the fact that Taiwan is a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never renounced the use of force to bring the democratically governed island under Beijing’s control. Taiwan’s government strongly disputes the CCP’s claims and has denounced the drills.

The Chinese military said it had “successfully completed” the exercises and “comprehensively tested” the capabilities of multiple units under actual combat conditions.

Chinese state television said earlier on Monday that aircraft, including nuclear-capable H-6 bombers armed with live missiles, and warships staged drills to “form a multi-directional island-encompassing blockade situation.”

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said the Shandong had also taken part in combat patrols, and it showed fighters taking off from the aircraft carrier’s deck.

Taiwan has tracked the Shandong since last week in the Pacific Ocean.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said that as of 1000 GMT on Monday it had spotted 12 Chinese ships and 91 military aircraft around the island, including carrier-based J-15 fighters flown from the Shandong.

Japanese Concern

The Shandong conducted air operations in waters close to Japan’s Okinawan islands on Sunday, Japan’s defense ministry said on Monday.

Jet fighters and helicopters took off and landed on the carrier 120 times from Friday to Sunday, with the carrier, three other warships and a support vessel coming within 230 kilometers (143 miles) of Japan’s Miyako island, the defense ministry said.

Japan has been following China’s military drills around Taiwan “with great interest,” a top government spokesperson said on Monday.

Japan has long worried about China’s military activities in the area given how close southern Japanese islands are to Taiwan.

The Japanese island of Okinawa hosts a major U.S. air force base, and last August when the Chinese regime staged war games to protest the visit of then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, Chinese missiles landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The European Union also expressed concern on Monday, saying Taiwan’s status should not be changed by force as any escalation, accident, or use of force there would have huge global implications.

The United States said it is watching China’s drills closely and its exercises undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. “Our channels of communication with China remain open and we have consistently urged restraint,” a senior administration official said on Monday.

By contrast, Russia, which has declared a “no limits” partnership with China, said on Monday that Beijing had every right to respond to repeated “provocations” against it and carry out military exercises around Taiwan.

‘Lock on the Target’

China’s military simulated precision strikes against Taiwan in the second day of drills around the island on Sunday.

The Eastern Theatre Command on Monday released a short video on its WeChat account showing an H-6 bomber flying in what it said was the skies north of Taiwan.

“The missiles are in good condition,” an unidentified voice says, as the video shows images from the cockpit.

“Start the fire control radar, lock on the target,” another voice says, showing images of a missile under the aircraft’s wing.

It then shows a pilot readying the fire control button for what it describes as a simulated attack, and then pressing the button, though it did not show any missiles being fired.

Taiwan’s military has repeatedly said it will respond calmly to the CCP’s drills and not provoke conflict.

The defense ministry separately released pictures on Monday of mobile launchers for the Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles at an undisclosed location, as well as missile-armed fast attack boats at sea.

Reuters reporters at the Cape Maobitou park in Pingtung county on Taiwan’s southern tip saw Hsiung Feng launchers deployed near a scenic spot on Monday, as soldiers stood guard and tourists watched and posed for pictures.

Life in Taiwan has continued normally with no signs of panic or disruption, and civilian flights operating as usual.

“Most normal people probably aren’t afraid, with the main reason being that everyone thinks that China will certainly not start a war,” said retiree and former soldier Tang Pao-hsiung, 78.

Taiwan’s stock market brushed off the tension, with the benchmark index closing up 0.3 percent on Monday.

However, China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index fell 0.5 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.4 percent as the drills curbed investors’ risk appetite.