Beijing/Taipei, Aug 9, (dpa/GNA) – Despite its initial announcement that Chinese manoeuvres around Taiwan would end on Sunday, the People’s Liberation Army continued their large-scale sea and air drills on Monday, triggering fears that the exercises may herald the beginning of a new normal.
China’s state television reported that the exercises were focussing on “anti-submarine and sea assault operations.”
In announcing the manoeuvres to the north, south-west and east of self-ruled island last Tuesday, China had originally promised their conclusion on Sunday.
No new formal end date has been announced.
In fact, some commentators on Chinese media expressed the view that the military exercises, could become routine.
Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian, on Monday said the drills are a “necessary warning” to the United States and Taiwan, describing them as an “entirely reasonable and appropriate” response to their recent “provocations.”
He said the tensions were “deliberately” stoked by Washington, with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, travelling to Taipei last week in the face of fierce opposition from Beijing.
Asked about the extension of the exercises, US President Joe Biden said he was not worried. Biden said he was unsettled that so many Chinese forces were moving, but added that he did not believe they would go further.
Pelosi’s visit was “her decision,” Biden said.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, described the exercises as provocative and irresponsible, with the risk of miscalculation. The US was prepared for whatever Beijing decided to do, she said.
The Chinese leadership rejects official contacts by other countries with Taipei, because it regards the island as part of the mainland. Taiwan, on the other hand, has long seen itself as independent.
Later, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence confirmed that China’s military operations were continuing and said, the Taiwanese military is responding appropriately.
Taiwanese Lieutenant General, Yeh Kuo-hui, said Chinese jet fighters crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait during the past four days, had been given immediate radio warnings, while all Chinese warplanes are being closely monitored, in comments during a briefing.
The ministry also refuted disinformation that is spreading online, including reporting by Chinese state media about the intrusion of Chinese navy warships to Taiwan’s territorial waters.
At least 272 fake news items concerning China’s military drills, were detected between August 1 to 8, the ministry said.
Furthermore, several official Taiwanese websites have faced cyberattacks, including the ministry’s website, which suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which attempts to make an online service unavailable to users.
Taiwan is also preparing to carry out a scheduled live-fire artillery exercise called Tien Lei Drill, part of ongoing annual Han Kuang exercises, on Tuesday and Thursday in southern Taiwan.
The step comes after the Chinese military practised not only a naval and air blockade, but also amphibious landing capabilities to launch beach assaults on Taiwan in recent days, according to Chinese media.
The Ministry of National Defence said as of 5 pm (0900 GMT) on Monday, 13 Chinese navy warships and 39 warplanes were detected in Taiwan’s surrounding region over the course of the day. Among them, 21 Chinese jet fighters crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s armed forces have monitored the situation and responded to these activities, with aircraft in CAP (Combat Air Patrol), naval vessels, and land-based missile systems, the ministry said.
A Chinese drone was also spotted again on Sunday evening over the outlying Taiwanese island of Kinmen, which is only a few kilometres from the Chinese coast, the ministry reported.
Until recently, there had been no Chinese overflight of the island since the 1950s.
Other Chinese manoeuvres are also planned this week in other waters, including in the north in the Bohai Gulf and Yellow Sea, and in the south in the South China Sea off the coast of Guangdong Province.
GNA