Taiwan goes on high alert as China sends out 90 ships for what are likely to be drills

Taiwan raised its alert level on Monday, saying that China had blocked off airspace and sent out navy and coast guard ships for what a security source called the first military drills in a large part of the region’s waterways.

A top security official for Taiwan said that China had about 70 navy and coast guard ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands, and the East and South China Seas. About two-thirds of these ships were navy ships.

When asked for reaction, Beijing’s defense ministry did not answer right away.

Concerning Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te’s trip to the Pacific, which included stops in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam, security sources told Reuters that China was likely to start another round of drills. This was because China claims freely governed Taiwan as its own territory.

China set up seven “temporary reserved areas” of airspace until Wednesday, according to a statement from Taiwan’s defense minister. These areas are to the east of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

These areas are set aside for a certain person for a certain amount of time. Other flights can pass through with permission, though, because of rules that apply around the world.

China sent a Notice to Air Mission with coordinates for the seven places. Two of them face Taiwan off the coast of Fujian province, but they are closer to China.

The rest are mostly along the coast of Zhejiang and in the East China Sea, off the coast of Shanghai.

But China didn’t say right away about any specific weapons tests or military zones. During war games in August 2022, it shot missiles into the water around Taiwan to protest Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taipei.

A request for comment was sent to the White House, but they did not reply right away.

The Taiwanese official, who did not want to be named, said that China’s deployment was bigger than the two previous major drills this year around Taiwan.

The person said, “For the first time, they are going after the whole island chain.” This is the area that goes from Japan to Borneo, including Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan. It surrounds China’s coast.

“They are meant to achieve total military intimidation by positioning to control the inner part of the island chain.”
The military of Taiwan said it had started “combat readiness exercises” in key spots.

“Any unilateral and irrational, provocative actions could seriously damage peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and that will not be welcomed by the international community,” the defense ministry of Taiwan said.

China is being accused of “grey zone harassment” by Taiwan.

Wang Ting-yu, who is in charge of the parliament’s defense and foreign affairs committee and is a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said that China could be making moves or raising a false alarm to put pressure on Taiwan.

“Please behave like a good neighbor.” “Don’t always cause trouble,” he told her.

China’s seven coast guard ships have been doing “grey-zone harassment” all day, according to Taiwan’s coast guard. Taiwan said it would fight back if China tried to get into its waters.

Taiwan says China has been harassing Taiwanese troops with “grey-zone” tactics, like daily air and navy missions, that aren’t quite combat.

Beijing hates Lai because he is a “separatist” and has turned down all of his talks requests many times. Beijing says Taiwan is its own country, but Taipei says only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
People are afraid of a war because China is making threats around Taiwan and in the contested South China Sea.

Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Defense Secretary, told U.S. Marines in Japan that China was the only country in the world that wanted to change the rules-based international order and was getting better at it.

“And so we want to see this region, this area remains open to freedom of navigation and the ability to fly the skies and international airways whenever we want to,” he added.