On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, a Taiwanese Mirage 2000 fighter jet took off from an air base in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan, and Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had spotted Chinese naval vessels and military aircraft in training. (AP Photo/Yingying Chiang) Yingying Chiang/AP Hide caption
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Chiang Yingying/AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s secret military appears to be plotting something around Taiwan, but it’s unclear whether it’s an official military exercise.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that it had detected 12 Chinese naval vessels and 47 military aircraft in the past 24 hours, but there were no live-fire activities similar to previous military exercises. Defense officials said at a news conference that the latest deployment covers a wider area, with additional ships sent beyond Taiwan to other parts of the Pacific.
Vice Admiral Xie Zisheng said the Chinese Navy is building two walls. One is on the border of Taiwan, and the other is outside the first island chain that runs from Japan south through Taiwan and into the Philippines. “The message they’re sending is very simple: The Taiwan Strait is ours,” he said of the waters between Taiwan and China.
The military is bracing for possible training by China in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-de’s recent trip abroad, including to Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes the autonomous island’s formal interactions with other countries, especially the United States. Lai spoke by phone with U.S. Congressional leaders while in Guam last week. The United States, like most countries around the world, does not officially recognize Taiwan as a country, but it is the largest supplier of arms for the defense of the island of 23 million people.
There have been no announcements from the Chinese side regarding military exercises, but Taiwanese authorities refer to the ongoing activities as drills. Xie pointed out that training can become training, and training can become war.
“I’m just going through normal training,” he said. “But under normalized training conditions, it is possible to mobilize such a large force and conduct exercises over such a wide area.”
China, which considers Lai a separatist, conducted large-scale military exercises around Taiwan following his inauguration in May and his National Day speech in October. Large-scale drills were also held after then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.
Taiwan’s military set up an emergency response center on Monday in response to increased Chinese naval activity and the announcement of flight restrictions in seven areas off China’s east coast. The restrictions will last until Wednesday.
“We have noticed that live-fire training activities at the seven training ranges that were planned in the past have not been carried out,” said Hsieh, director of the Office of the Deputy Chief of General Staff for Intelligence.
