China carries out 'total Taiwan blockade' drills, with its military completely surrounding the island after government vowed to resist any Beijing attack
China is carrying out total blockade drills around Taiwan after Taipei last week vowed to resist any Beijing attack.
China is carrying out total blockade drills around Taiwan after Taipei last week vowed to resist any Beijing attack.
China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on Monday, in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a stern warning to separatist forces on the self-ruled island.
Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Mondays drills represent its fourth round of large-scale war games in the past two years.
In May, after Taiwanese President Lai-Ching-tes inauguration, large scale drills were announced - dubbed Joint Sword 2024A - which combined air and sea operations and missile forces, surrounding Taiwan from all sides while simulating a blockade.
On Monday morning, the long-expected Joint Sword 2024B was launched – which China is describing as again surrounding Taiwan with combined operations practising to fight in all weather conditions.
Taiwan is monitoring Chinese drills - dubbed Joint Sword 2024B - around the island
Footage captured the moment Taiwans coast guard warned a Chinese vessel spotted near Matsu Islands
A diagram released by the coast guard showed four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anticlockwise direction around the island
Armed military vehicles patrol outside the Songshan Airport in Taipei after China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on October 14, in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a stern warning to separatist forces on the self-ruled island
The drills are testing troops joint operations capabilities according to Captain Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese militarys Eastern Theater Command.
They are taking place in areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island, he said.
The drills are focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas, Li said.
They also practised an assault on maritime and ground targets, and fighter jets and warships had been deployed, Chinese state media said.
Chinas coast guard was also dispatched to conduct inspections around the island.
Taiwans defence ministry said Monday that 25 Chinese aircraft and seven navy vessels were detected around island at 8:00am local time.
A diagram released by the coast guard showed four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anticlockwise direction around the island.
The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian - the closest area on the mainland to the self-ruled island - also said it was conducting comprehensive law enforcement patrols in waters near the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands.
Taiwan said four formations of China coast guard ships were patrolling around the island, but they had not entered its prohibited or restricted waters.
Reporters near the Hsinchu air force base, in the north of Taiwan, saw 12 fighter jets take off on Monday.
China on Monday warned that efforts towards Taiwan independence and peace were irreconcilable as its military launched its drills.
Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are irreconcilable, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, warning that provocations from pro-independence forces will inevitably face countermeasures.
The United States has said Chinas actions were unwarranted and risk escalation as it called on Beijing to act with restraint.
This handout from Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command released on October 14 shows a map of locations of the Joint Sword-2024B military drills being conducted by China around Taiwan
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning warned that efforts towards Taiwan independence and peace were irreconcilable
The drills started before dawn today in a bid to send a stern warning, according to Beijing
Ching-te has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwans sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a separatist.
Lai vowed Monday to protect democratic Taiwan, and safeguard national security, while the defence ministry said it dispatched appropriate forces in response to the drills.
Outlying islands administered by Taipei were on heightened alert and aircraft and ships will respond to enemy situations in accordance with the engagement rules, Taiwans defence ministry said.
Beijing said its exercises served as a stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan Independence forces.
China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending in warplanes and other military aircraft while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the islands waters.
In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness, Taiwans defence ministry said Monday.
Lai convened a high-level security meeting over the drills, said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, who described the exercises as inconsistent with international law.
In his speech Thursday celebrating the islands National Day, Lai vowed to resist annexation of Taiwan and insisted Beijing and Taipei were not subordinate to each other.
Two Taiwanese Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet armed with missiles scramble from the Hsinchu Air Base, following Chinas announcement of the military exercise Joint Sword-2024B that encircles Taiwan, in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on October 14
Chinas exercises have gradually moved closer to the islands shores
Lais Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.
Beijing on Monday said the drills were a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity.
Lieutenant Colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the drills could switch from training to combat at any time.
If Taiwan separatists provoke once, the PLAs operation around the island will make their first move, Fu said, referring to Chinas Peoples Liberation Army.
Taiwans coast guard said Monday it had detained a Chinese man on one of its outlying islands after a possible grey zone intrusion, referring to tactics that fall short of a direct act of war.
During morning rush-hour in Taipei, people appeared to be largely unperturbed by the latest drills.
I wont panic too much because they quite often have drills, 34-year-old engineer Benjamin Hsiao told AFP.
Its not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a bit numb.
The current dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedongs communist fighters and fled to Taiwan in 1949.
Since then, China and Taiwan have been ruled separately.
