Taiwan Scrambles Jets and Missiles on High Alert During China Drills!

Taiwan Scrambles Jets as Missiles Go on Alert for China’s Military Moves!

Taiwan scrambled jets and put missile, naval, and land units on alert Thursday due to Chinese military exercises 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 defenses and intimidate its people, who strongly support their de facto independence.

"China's irrational provocation has jeopardized regional peace and stability," the island's Defense Ministry said. Taiwan will avoid conflicts but will not back down from one. The ministry's statement added, "This pretext for military exercises does not promote peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait but shows its hegemonic nature."

In his inauguration address on Monday, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te called for Beijing to stop its military intimidation. He pledged not to provoke the mainland Communist Party leadership. Lai seeks dialogue with Beijing while maintaining Taiwan's current status and avoiding conflicts that could involve the island's main ally, the U.S., and other regional partners like Japan and Australia.

The People's Liberation Army's 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 strong punishment for the separatist forces seeking independence and a serious warning to external forces against 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 like Matsu and Kinmen, outlying islands closer to the Chinese mainland than Taiwan.

While China called the exercises punishment for Taiwan's election result, the Democratic Progressive Party has run the island's government for over a decade, although the pro-China Nationalist Party took a one-seat majority in parliament.

Speaking in Australia, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka, the deputy commander of the US 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 form of statement," Sklenka told the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra, referring to Monday's presidential inauguration.

"Just because we expect that behavior doesn't mean 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," Sklenka added.

Japan's top envoy also commented while visiting the US, saying Japan and Taiwan share values and principles, including freedom, democracy, basic rights, and rule of law. "(Taiwan) is our extremely important partner with 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.