KEELUNG, Taiwan –
China carried out “precision missile strikes” on Thursday in the Taiwan Strait and waters off Taiwan’s east coast as part of military exercises that raised tensions in the region to their highest level in decades.
Earlier, China announced that military exercises of its navy, air force and other services were underway in six zones around Taiwan, which Beijing claims is its territory, which will be annexed by force if necessary.
Five of the missiles fired by China landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone off its coast, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said. He said Japan protested the missile landing against China as a “serious threat to Japan’s national security and the safety of the Japanese people.” The missiles fell off Hateruma, an outer island well away from Japan’s main islands, he said.
The drills were sparked by a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week and aim to publicize China’s threat to attack the self-ruled island republic. Along with its moves to isolate Taiwan diplomatically, China has long threatened military retaliation against the island’s moves to assert its de facto independence with the support of key allies, including the U.S.
China fired long-range explosive projectiles, the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the ruling Communist Party, said in a statement. It also said it had carried out multiple launches of conventional missiles at three different areas in eastern waters off Taiwan. An accompanying graphic by state broadcaster CCTV shows those that occurred in the north, east and south.
“All missiles hit the target accurately,” the Eastern theater said in a statement. No further details were given.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said it tracked the launch of Chinese Dongfeng-series missiles beginning at around 1:56 p.m. Thursday. A statement said it used various early warning surveillance systems to track missile launches. They later reported that they had counted 11 Dongfeng missiles in waters to the north, east and south.
The ministry also said it tracked the firing of long-range missiles and munitions at remote islands in Matsu, Ukiu and Dongin.
Earlier in the day, Taiwan’s defense ministry said its forces were on standby and monitoring the situation, while seeking to avoid an escalation of tensions. Civil defense exercises were held last week and notices were placed on designated air raid shelters months ago.
China’s “irrational behavior” aims to change the status quo and disrupt regional peace and stability, the ministry said.
“The three branches of the service will join forces with all people to jointly protect national security and territorial integrity,” while adapting to the evolving situation, the statement said.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the drills were joint operations focusing on “blockade, attack on sea targets, strikes on land targets and airspace control”.
Ma Chen-kun, a professor at the National Taiwan Defense University, said the drills were intended to demonstrate the Chinese military’s ability to deploy precision weapons to cut Taiwan’s ties with the outside world and facilitate troop landings.
The announced drills are “more complete” than previous exercises, he said.
“If the People’s Liberation Army actually invades Taiwan in an all-out invasion, the specific actions it will take are all in this particular exercise,” Ma said.
“The main thing is that they will cut off Taiwan’s connections with the outside world, from the sea they will suppress the firepower of the coastal defense,” he said.
Meanwhile, the mood in Taiwan was calm.
In Keelung, a city on Taiwan’s northern coast and near two of the announced training areas, swimmers did their morning laps in a natural pool built into the ocean.
Lu Chuan-hsiong, 63, was enjoying his morning swim and said he was not worried. “Because Taiwanese and Chinese, we are all one family. There are also many mainlanders here,” he said.
“Everyone should want money, not bullets,” he joked, saying the economy wasn’t doing so well.
Those who have to work in the ocean were more concerned. Fishermen are likely to be most affected by the drilling, which covers six different areas around Taiwan, some of which enter the island’s territorial waters.
Most anglers will continue to try and catch fish as it is squid season.
“It’s very close. It will definitely affect us, but if they want to do that, what can we do? We can just avoid this area,” said Chow Ting-tai, who owns a fishing vessel.
Although the US has not said it will intervene, it has forward-deployed bases and assets in the area, including aircraft carrier battle groups.
On Thursday, the US Navy said its aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was operating in the Philippine Sea, east of Taiwan, as part of “normal scheduled operations”.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken addressed Thursday’s drills, saying, “I very much hope that Beijing will not fabricate a crisis or look for a pretext to increase its aggressive military activity. We, the countries of the world, believe that escalation serves no one and may have unintended consequences that serve no one’s interests.”
US law requires the government to treat threats to Taiwan, including blockades, as matters of “serious concern”.
The drills are due to take place from Thursday to Sunday and include missile strikes on targets in the seas north and south of the island in echoes of the last major Chinese military exercises aimed at intimidating Taiwan’s leaders and voters, held in 1995 and 1996.
On the diplomatic front, China canceled a meeting of foreign ministers with Japan in protest at a statement by the Group of Seven countries that there was no justification for the drills. Both ministers are attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.
“Japan, along with other G7 members and the EU, made an irresponsible statement blaming China and confusing right and wrong,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing.
Although China has not released information on the number of troops and military assets involved, the drills may be the largest to be held geographically close to Taiwan, experts said.
The exercises involved troops from the navy, air force, missile force, strategic support force and logistics support force, Xinhua reported.
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AP writer David Rising in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report
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