Ground staff members transport missiles near a Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft at Hsinchu Air Base, in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Taiwan scrambled jets and put missile, naval and land units on alert on May 23 over Chinese military exercises being conducted around the self-governing island democracy where a new President took office this week.

China’s military said its two-day exercises around Taiwan were punishment for separatist forces seeking independence. Beijing claims the island is part of China’s national territory and the People’s Liberation Army sends navy ships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait and other areas around the island almost daily to wear down Taiwan’s defences and seek to intimidate its people, who firmly back their de facto independence.

China’s “irrational provocation has jeopardised regional peace and stability,” the island’s Defence Ministry said. It said Taiwan will seek no conflicts but “will not shy away from one.

“This pretext for conducting military exercises not only does not contribute to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, but also shows its hegemonic nature at heart,” the Ministry’s statement said.

In his inauguration address on Monday, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te called for Beijing to stop its military intimidation and pledged to “neither yield nor provoke” the mainland Communist Party leadership.

Lai has said he seeks dialogue with Beijing while maintaining Taiwan’s current status and avoiding conflicts that could draw in the island’s chief ally the U.S. and other regional partners such as Japan and Australia.

“The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said the land, navy and air exercises around Taiwan are meant to test the navy and air capabilities of the PLA units, as well as their joint strike abilities to hit targets and win control of the battlefield,” the command said on its official Weibo account.

“This is also a powerful punishment for the separatist forces seeking independence’ and a serious warning to external forces for interference and provocation,” the statement said.

The PLA also released a map of the intended exercise area, which surrounds Taiwan’s main island at five different points, as well as places such as Matsu and Kinmen, outlying islands that are closer to the Chinese mainland than Taiwan.

While China has termed the exercises as punishment for Taiwan’s election result, the Democratic Progressive Party has now run the island’s government for more than a decade, although the pro-China Nationalist Party took a one-seat majority in the Parliament.

Speaking in Australia, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka, the deputy commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, called on Asia-Pacific nations to condemn the Chinese military exercises.

“There’s no surprise whenever there’s an action that highlights Taiwan in the international sphere the Chinese feel compelled to make some kind of form of statement,” Mr. Sklenka told the National Press Club of Australia in the capital Canberra, in a reference to Monday’s Presidential inauguration.

“Just because we expect that behavior doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t condemn it, and we need to condemn it publicly. And it needs to come from us, but it also needs to come, I believe, from nations in the region. It’s one thing when the United States condemns the Chinese, but it has a far more powerful effect, I believe, when it comes from nations within this region,” Mr. Sklenka added.

Japan’s top envoy weighed in while visiting the U.S., saying Japan and Taiwan share values and principles, including freedom, democracy, basic rights and rule of law.

“(Taiwan) is our extremely important partner that we have close economic relations and exchanges of people, and is our precious friend,” Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters in Washington, where she held talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

She said the two Ministers discussed Taiwan and the importance of the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s most important waterways for shipping, remaining peaceful.

Zhang Youxia, Vice-Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, speaks at the Western Pacific Navy Symposium held in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong Province on April 22, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

One of China’s top military leaders took a harsh line on regional territorial disputes, telling an international naval gathering in northeastern China on April 22 that the country would strike back with force if its interests came under threat.

The 19th biennial meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium opened in Qingdao, where China’s northern naval force is based, providing a vivid backdrop to China’s massive military expansion over the past two decades that has seen it build or refurbish three aircraft carriers.

The two-day talks have drawn representatives from partners and competitors including Australia, Cambodia, Chile, France, India and the U.S. and comes amid heightened tensions over China’s assertive actions in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China seas, and as China’s Navy has grown into the world’s largest by number of hulls.

Zhang Youxia, the Vice-Chairman of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, which controls the armed forces, spoke of “common development” and said “decoupling, friction and confrontation will only divide the world into isolated islands guarding against each other with suspicion.”

Then he turned to China’s territorial claims, which have not been recognised under international law and in some cases have been denied. Beijing has ignored rulings not in its favour, particularly in the South China Sea, where it is in dispute with five other parties over islands, waterways and undersea resources.

Japan continues to defend its control over the uninhabited Senkaku island chain, called Diaoyu by China, in the East China Sea, against incursions by the Chinese coast guard.

Taiwan last week reinforced its foothold in the disputed South China Sea by establishing satellite communications between the main island and its garrison on Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, the largest land feature in the highly contested Spratly Island chain. China has created seven artificial islands in the area by piling sand and cement on coral reefs and equipping them with airstrips and other military infrastructure.

Mr. Zhang said China’s territorial sovereignty “brooks no infringement and its core interests cannot be challenged. We do not provoke trouble, but we will never flinch in face of provocation. The Chinese military will resolutely defend the reunification and interest of the motherland.”

Mr. Zhang has spoken in the past of Beijing’s determination to take control of the self-governing island republic of Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory, using force if necessary. With its crucial high-tech economy, Taiwan has been building up its defences on its own and with help from the U.S., where Congress this weekend approved $8 billion in military aid for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.

Taiwan is also building its own submarines and trainer aircraft and waiting on the delivery of upgraded versions of F-16 fighters, battle tanks and other hardware from the U.S.

Mr. Zhang appeared to press China’s unilateralist approach to foreign relations and military conflicts as espoused by Xi Jinping, the top military commander, Communist Party leader and head-of-state for life, who has eliminated all dissenting views.

China “remains committed to resolving maritime disputes with directly concerned countries through friendly consultations, but we will not allow our good faith to be abused,” Mr. Zhang said. “Particularly over the self-governing island republic of Taiwan that Beijing threatens to use force to bring under its control. We will take justified actions to defend our rights in accordance with the law.”

Mr. Zhang’s comments follow a major shakeup of the Chinese military in recent months that has seen the still-unexplained disappearance of former Defence Minister Li Shangfu and several top officers in the missile corps.

Also due to speak at the gathering was the recently appointed head of the Russian Navy, Adm. Alexander Moiseyev, the Russian Defence Ministry said on April 22, according to the official Interfax news agency.

It said Adm. Moiseyev met with Adm. Hu Zhongming, commander of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, in Qingdao on April 21, and they agreed to further cooperation on search and rescue.

“The sides emphasised the importance of further developing cooperation between the two countries’ fleets for supporting security and stability on the world’s oceans,” Interfax said.

China has refused to criticise Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine and has held multiple rounds of drills with the Russian Navy and other armed forces branches, part of an alignment of their military and political postures to form a joint front against the prevailing U.S.-led Western liberal order.

Ukraine has developed deadly sea drones that have struck Russian Navy ships in the Black Sea. Those successful strikes have embarrassed the Kremlin.

COLOMBO Sri Lanka has received a stock of bomb squad equipment through a grant from the Chinese military, the Sri Lankan army has said.

The Chinese Ambassador in Colombo handed over the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) equipment to the Secretary to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence General Kamal Gunaratne (Rtd) in a ceremony held on March 13, according to a media statement. The equipment will be used primarily for screening, bomb detection, and disposal, according to army sources in Colombo. The statement did not mention the cost of the equipment.

The development came a day after the United States Department of Defence commenced a training programme for Sri Lanka’s Air Force for enhanced protection of the island’s maritime resources, to counter illicit trafficking and monitor its exclusive economic zone. It also coincided with the Chinese People Liberation Army’s recent engagement in the region, including in Sri Lanka.

On March 7, a senior Chinese military official was in Colombo for talks with the military establishment. Deputy Chief of the Office for International Military Cooperation (OMIC) of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China, Major General Zhang Baoqun met Gen. Gunaratne (Rtd) to “exchange perspectives on prevalent regional security challenges and explore avenues for joint initiatives on enhancing maritime security collaborations on mutual ground,” a press release from the Sri Lankan army said.

Beijing on Wednesday confirmed that a military delegation visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal from March 4 to 13 to discuss further defence cooperation. During the delegation’s visit to the Maldives, the island nation’s Minister of Defence signed a pact with Major General Zhang Baoqun for military assistance from — and stronger bilateral ties with — China.

Beijing’s enhanced military engagement in the region remains a cause for concern in New Delhi, even as India and Sri Lanka maintain long-standing defence ties, and currently have an annual defence dialogue at the level of Secretary to the Defence Ministry. The seventh round of the dialogue was held in New Delhi on February 23, 2023, where both sides agreed to “increase the complexity of bilateral exercises.” Sri Lanka has a Liaison Officer posted at the Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) located in Gurugram.

Sri Lanka is also part of the Colombo Security Conclave (CSC), along with Mauritius and the Maldives, and Bangladesh and Seychelles, that are observer-states. However, the Maldives skipped the 6^th NSA-level meeting of the CSC held in Mauritius in December, months after President Mohamed Muizzu was elected. 

(With inputs from Dinakar Peri in New Delhi)