Taiwan’s armed forces have conducted anti-landing drills on islands off the coast of China, the defense ministry said Friday (Sept. 25).
China has been increasing its military pressure on Taiwan lately, with increasingly frequent military activities near the island, including overflights by Chinese military aircraft of the sensitive Taiwan Strait’s invisible median line. China has never recognized the “centerline” of the Strait, and has stated that it is doing so in response to what Beijing calls “collusion” between Taiwan and the United States, and to protect its sovereignty. China claims Taiwan as its own territory.
U.S. State Department Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach visited Taiwan on September 17, making him the highest-ranking State Department official to visit Taiwan since Washington broke diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979. Prior to that, U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar visited Taiwan in early August and is the other high-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan this year.
According to immediate military developments released by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense, since September 17, in addition to the 20th, the PLA’s military aircraft entered the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in southwestern Taiwan for seven consecutive times and invaded Taiwan’s airspace, with several fighter jets crossing the centerline of the Taiwan Strait on the 18th and 19th.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the anti-landing exercise took place in the Matsu Islands, located off the coast of Fuzhou, China. In the past few years, there have been a lot of people who have been in the business for a long time, and they’ve been in the business for a long time. The exercise was conducted in five phases, including “boat wave attack” and “beach fire and destroy”. The purpose of the exercise was to validate the joint battle command mechanism, fire-fighting operations and combined firepower application, and to improve the effectiveness of Taiwan’s military’s joint battle training.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said the exercise was conducted throughout the archipelago. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense Lt. Gen. Chiu Shu-Hua supervised the Matsu Defense Command’s “Joint Anti-Landing Operation” exercise on Friday.
The Nationalist Army lost the 1949 Communist Civil War and retreated from mainland China to Taiwan. Since then, Taiwan has controlled the islands of Matsu and Kinmen, which are very close to mainland China. Taiwan’s Matsu is about 20 kilometers from Fuzhou City in Fujian Province, China, and the closest distance between Kinmen and Xiamen, Fujian Province is less than 5 kilometers.
The last major battle between Taiwan and China was in 1958, known as the artillery battle of Kinmen. According to public records, the artillery battle was first initiated by the PLA, followed by a counterattack by Taiwanese forces. The fiercest fighting took place between August 23 and October 5, 1958, and is therefore also known as the August 23rd Artillery Battle. Today, the islands of Matsu and Kinmen are popular tourist destinations, although Taiwan still has a significant military presence on these islands.
However, because of their proximity to mainland China, some experts believe that both Kinmen and Matsu could be prime targets for Chinese attacks in the event of a war in the Taiwan Sea.
On the other hand, China’s Ministry of Defense said on Thursday (Sept. 24) that the PLA will resolutely thwart Taiwan’s independence at all costs. According to the Zhejiang Maritime Bureau, the PLA will hold a live-fire drill Friday near the Yushan Islands in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.
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