File photo:China Military
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is holding joint maritime and aerial exercises and combat-readiness patrols in the region starting Friday, as media on the Taiwan island reported concentrated PLA warplane activities near the island’s “airspace” in four directions around the island on Friday morning. The news comes against the backdrop of US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach’s visit to the island of Taiwan where he is reportedly set to attend the memorial service of former Taiwan regional leader Lee Teng-hui, known as the “Godfather of Taiwan secessionism.”
The PLA operations have multiple dimensions that make secessionists on the island a turtle in a jar, and the PLA can turn the exercises into real action any time if Taiwan secessionists insist on their obduracy, Chinese mainland experts said on Friday.
Starting Friday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command is conducting real combat-oriented exercises near Taiwan Straits, Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, a spokesperson at the Ministry of National Defense, told the Global Times at a press conference on Friday.
The move, which targets the current cross-Straits situation, is legitimate and necessary action the mainland has taken to protect its sovereignty and integrity, Ren said.
The news on the PLA’s live-fire exercises came when US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach is paying a visit to Taiwan island from Thursday for “economic talks.” Recently, the US has ramped up efforts in playing the Taiwan card and escalated provocations on military and diplomacy – sending reconnaissance planes across the Taiwan Straits, sending senior officials to visit Taiwan and intending to expanding arm sales to the island. In response, the PLA has organized several exercises.
Ren said Taiwan island is an inalienable part of China and the Taiwan question is China’s domestic matter in which outside powers should not interfere. The US and Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party have recently colluded to make a fuss and their attempt to either use the island to contain China or raise the island’s status is doomed to fail.
“The PLA has the firm willingness, full confidence and enough capability to defeat all outside forces that interfere with the Taiwan question or conduct separatist actions to protect national sovereignty and integrity,” Ren said.
File Photo:China Military
Combat-orientated exercises
PLA Eastern Theater Command soon after released a statement, announcing that the command is holding combat-readiness patrols and joint aerial and maritime drills in the Taiwan Straits in order to test its joint combat capability and multi-forces integration.
Chinese mainland military expert Song Zhongping told the Global Times on Friday that the mainland military spokespersons used three different expressions in describing the operations, namely real combat-oriented exercises, combat-readiness patrols and joint aerial and maritime drills, which showed the exercises this time are multidimensional.
The real combat-oriented, joint aerial and maritime drills mean that the PLA is practicing in key areas of a real battle, while the combat-readiness patrols are operations aimed at preparing for combat anytime if anomalies occur on the island, Song said.
Media on the Taiwan island reported early on Monday that a large number of PLA warplanes were spotted in the “airspace” of Taiwan in four different directions, namely southwest, west, north and northwest, at altitudes ranging from 5,700 meters to 8,400 meters, within just one hour on Friday morning.
The report claimed that the military on the island attempted to use radio broadcast to drive away the PLA aircraft, and according to the broadcast, the PLA operations approached Taiwan’s “airspace,” instead of “air zone” or “air defense identification zone” that include regions farther away from the island.
This means the PLA has the capability to attack the secessionists on the island from multiple directions at the same time, making them “turtles in a jar” that are easy to catch, Chinese mainland observers said.
Not only in these four directions, the PLA should also surround Taiwan from its east, Song said, noting that this training showed the PLA is practicing realist tactics that can be turned into the real thing when necessary.
Taiwan is a part of China, and the PLA has the right to approach its “airspace,” Song stressed.
Some military observers said that by normalizing large-scale exercises, the PLA can assemble troops near Taiwan and launch a sudden attack during the exercises. But Song said that while the PLA has that capability, it will likely not use this method, but rather give an ultimatum to the Taiwan secessionists before doing it.
If the secessionists insist on their obduracy, then the PLA could turn the exercises into real actions and reunify the island, Song said, noting that the PLA is a force of peace, and will only use military means to solve the “Taiwan question” when all other approaches have failed.
In early September, both the PLA’s two aircraft carriers were spotted carrying out training exercises out in the sea for the first time, leading to fears on the Taiwan island that the PLA could conduct island encirclement patrols with the aircraft carriers. Two aircraft carriers could be used to squeeze the island of Taiwan from different angles, and deny any possible US intervention, mainland analysts said.
China’s second aircraft carrier, the Shandong, is reportedly conducting training missions in the Bohai Sea, and has stayed in the Dalian Shipyard in Northeast China for the majority of this year. When it eventually returns to its home port in Sanya, South China’s Hainan Province, it will likely pass through the Taiwan Straits again, observers said.
Citing satellite photos released by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that China’s third, larger and more advanced aircraft carrier is taking shape and expected to be launched into the water in the coming months.
If it comes to using military means to solve the Taiwan question, the more aircraft carriers the PLA has, the better. Indeed, three aircraft carriers would result in a significant capability boost to deter possible foreign intervention, Song said.
Some people say the PLA is mighty enough to reunify the island without aircraft carriers, not to mention a third one, but Song said that the PLA should use this overkill capability so as to finish the mission at the lowest cost possible.
US interaction attempts
In addition to sending Krach to visit the Taiwan island on Thursday for “economic talks,” the US has increased its provocation to try to push back China’s bottom line on the “Taiwan question” in recent days.
The US is also trying to provoke China at the UN on the Taiwan question. ABC News reported on Thursday that US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft had lunch on Wednesday with James K.J. Lee, director of the Taipei economic and cultural office in New York.
A meeting she called “historic” and a further step in the Trump administration’s campaign to strengthen relations with the island, Craft said she and Lee “discussed different ways that we can best help Taiwan become more engaged within the UN.”
China has lodged solemn representations in opposition to the US ambassador’s move, said Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN. The Taiwan question refers to China’s core interests and China urges the US to clearly understand the sensitivity and abide by the one-China policy, the three China-US joint communiques and UN resolutions so as to not create new obstacles for China-US ties.
On Thursday, US Representative Tom Tiffany introduced legislation calling for the US to resume formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and end the “outdated and counter-productive” one-China policy.
Echoing Tiffany’s bill, some US research fellows also said that questioning the “ambiguous” nature of America’s commitment to Taiwan’s defense has gone mainstream, as under this “strategic ambiguity” Taiwan island could not be sure the US would come to its defense, and the mainland could not be sure the US wouldn’t.
However, Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said that it is still unknown and too early to say Washington would cast away the one-China policy as it has concerns over the mainland’s possible reactions and whether it has enough capability to “protect” Taiwan militarily.
Some US politicians, including Tiffany, have hyped up the “ending of ambiguity toward Taiwan” to coax the DPP and separatists in Taiwan island. But they should also know that the mainland maintains military superiority in terms of sea and airspace around the island, Lü said.
“When the technology and trade war cards are not working for them, the US is inclined to play the Taiwan card and the current provocations show it is lingering along the edge to break through the one-China policy,” a Beijing-based expert on Taiwan affairs who requested anonymity told the Global Times.
Experts also said that if the US scraps the one-China policy, then Article 8 of the Anti-Secession Law of China will be activated, which means China shall use nonpeaceful and other necessary means to solve the Taiwan question once and for all.
The US is also sending a wrong signal to separatists in Taiwan. Before Krach’s visit to Taiwan, the DPP hyped up the visit to create momentum suggesting that ties between the island and US have moved one big step forward, the anonymous expert said, noting that the US is using Taiwan as a pawn.
“The US wants Taiwan to play as one of its guards in the Pacific Ocean, and the island also needs to pay to arm itself. Actually, the US treats the island as nothing more than toilet paper and would not hesitate to cast it away for its own interests,” he said.