Taiwan: China’s military high schools began with live fire – 22 aircraft entered its airspace

LAST UPDATE: 5:30 p.m

China’s armed forces today launched large-scale drills in areas around Taiwan, state broadcaster CCTV reported. During this period, “ships and aircraft” will not be allowed to enter the live-fire drills, he added.

“Middle schools are starting,” CCTV reported via Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The drills are being held in retaliation for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this week, which Beijing took as a grave insult and provocation.

Taiwan will not provoke conflict but will vigorously defend its sovereignty and national security, President Tsai Ing-wen said today, responding to Chinese military exercises near the island.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, 22 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace, while according to the same announcement, all 22 aircraft crossed the median line of the strait.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier announced that China had launched 11 Dongfeng ballistic missiles into waters around the northeast and southwest of Taiwan starting at 13:56 local time (8:56 Greek time).

He also said the Chinese military fired missiles near Taiwan’s Matsu Islands earlier in the day, adding that troops on the islands would continue to step up their alert level.

Reuters, citing China’s Eastern Theater Command, reported that it had completed multiple launches of conventional missiles in waters off Taiwan’s eastern coast as part of planned exercises.

The relevant maritime and airspace controls have been lifted following the completion of the firing, a representative of the Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.

Today’s gymnasiums are being held in a series of fields around Taiwan – in some cases as little as 20 kilometers from its shores – and will last for another three days, until Sunday.

These are the largest Chinese air and naval exercises ever staged around the island, which has its own government but which Beijing considers a breakaway province, destined to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

“If the Taiwanese forces deliberately come into contact (s.s.: with the Chinese military) and even fire a rifle by mistake, (the Chinese military) will retaliate vigorously and it will be the Taiwanese side” that will be held responsible and “suffer all the consequences,” a source close to the Chinese military told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Although Ms Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province, lasted less than 24 hours, it sparked anger in Beijing as she was the highest-ranking official to visit Taipei in 25 years.Newt’s predecessor Gingrich had visited Taiwan in 1997.

Taiwan’s military is “preparing for war” but not seeking it

Taiwan’s armed forces said today they are “preparing for war without seeking war”, as China today began the most extensive military training exercises ever held around the island.

“The Ministry of National Defense emphasizes that it will adhere to the principle of preparing for war without seeking war,” he said in a statement.

He explained that he would respond appropriately to the actions of the “enemy” in the Taiwan Strait.

US: Beijing’s behavior ‘not responsible’

China’s choice to hold military drills around Taiwan after the US House Speaker’s visit to the island does not show “responsibility” as the situation could escalate, Joe Biden’s national security adviser warned on Wednesday. Jake Sullivan.

“When a military conducts a series of activities, including (…) missile tests and live-fire high schools (…) the potential for an incident is real,” Mr. Sullivan said during an interview on public radio NPR network. “We think what China is doing is not responsible,” the White House national security adviser continued.

China’s military will hold its biggest military drills in decades around Taiwan today, in a show of force after Mrs Pelosi’s visit to the island sparked anger in Beijing.

Mr Sullivan called on China to “act in a responsible manner and avoid any kind of escalation that could lead to miscalculation or miscalculation in the airwaves or the seas”.

The high schools “increase tensions in the[Taiwanese]strait,” he insisted.

Nancy Pelosi, who left the island on Wednesday, was the most senior US official to visit Taipei in 25 years.

Asserting that she went “peacefully” to the region as a “friend”, the 82-year-old speaker of the House of Representatives also declared that the US would not abandon Taiwan, which has its own democratically elected government and lives under the constant threat of invasion by the Chinese army.

Today’s drills will take place in a series of fields around Taiwan – in some cases just 20 kilometers from its shores – and will last until midday on Sunday.

Taiwan authorities announced yesterday that another 27 Chinese military aircraft, compared to 21 the previous day, had intruded into the air defense identification zone (or ADIZ, from the acronym of the term air defense identification zone in English), which is however much wider than the airspace of the island.