PLA sends 29 planes and ships near Taiwan as island holds annual Han Kuang military drills

Combat drone crosses median line separating the island from mainland China as Taipei tests strength against full-scale attack
The sorties add to concerns that Beijing is boosting operations in eastern Taiwan where defences are weaker

Taiwan

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 9:00pm, 25 Jul 2023

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The People’s Liberation Army has sent 29 warplanes and warships in missions around Taiwan, with a combat drone entering the island’s southeast air defence identification zone (ADIZ), the Taiwanese military said.

The PLA sorties came as the self-ruled island started five days of annual war games on Monday. The first day of the Han Kuang Exercise was devoted to testing the Taiwanese military’s ability to maintain air and naval combat strength against a full-scale PLA attack in the eastern part of the island.

The Taiwanese defence ministry reported on Tuesday that 25 PLA aircraft flew towards the island, with 10 entering Taiwan’s southwest and southeast ADIZ.

Taiwan to test main airport defence for first time in Han Kuang exercises

A TB-001 strike and reconnaissance drone was tracked crossing the median line that separates the island from the mainland in the Taiwan Strait, flying into the southeast portion of the Taiwanese ADIZ, the ministry said.

The nine other aircraft that entered the southwest corner of the air defence zone were four J-16 fighter jets, two J-11 fighter jets, one KJ-500 airborne early warning plane, one Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft and one CH-4 reconnaissance drone, the ministry said.

Four PLA naval vessels were also tracked operating around Taiwan, the ministry said without elaborating.

Since Friday, the ministry has reported 107 PLA warplanes and warships operating around the island, with 38 aircraft crossing the median line and entering Taiwan’s air defence zone.

Of the 22 sorties that entered Taiwan’s ADIZ on Friday, four flew into the southeastern portion of the zone, while a WZ-7 high-altitude reconnaissance drone went east, raising concerns that the PLA is trying to increase its warplane operations in southeast and eastern Taiwan, where the island’s defences are weaker.

“The southeast and eastern side of Taiwan are considered militarily sensitive as it is the location where the military preserves its force and maintains its combat readiness in case western Taiwan is attacked by the Chinese communists,” said Chieh Chung, a security analyst at the National Policy Foundation, a think tank affiliated with the island’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang.

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Taiwanese president oversees annual military drill amid tensions with Beijing

Western Taiwan is directly across the strait from the Chinese mainland and more vulnerable to attack from the PLA. If attacked, the island could send some of its warplanes and warships to the east to stage counter-attacks.

Chieh said that in addition to training, the PLA sorties to eastern and southeastern Taiwan were aimed at gathering intelligence and familiarising the PLA with operations on that side of the island.

“There should be more to come as the PLA is expected to make this a new normal to pave the way for a future blockade of Taiwan should a cross-strait conflict erupt,” he said.

Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be brought under its control, by force if necessary. Like most countries, the United States – Taiwan’s biggest informal ally and arms supplier – does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but is opposed to any unilateral change of the cross-strait status quo by force.

Taiwan’s Han Kuang Exercise puts military and public to attack-readiness test

The 39th edition of the Taiwanese military drills entered their second day on Tuesday, but drills at Fenglien airport in the eastern county of Taitung were cancelled due to a typhoon projected to head to the east of Taiwan.

The military was originally expected to test the civilian airport’s readiness to serve as an airbase for emergency take-off and landing of warplanes. The rest of the exercises, including air raid and evacuation drills in other parts of Taiwan, continued as planned.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen had to cancel her planned inspection of the air raid and evacuation drills in the southern city of Tainan on Tuesday after she tested positive for Covid-19, the island’s Presidential Office said.

“After ending her morning itinerary, President Tsai felt somewhat uncomfortable and tested positive following a Covid-19 rapid test,” it said, adding that her medical team advised her to cancel her scheduled activities for the rest of the day.

Tsai went to a Taipei hospital in the morning to visit nine soldiers injured in a mortar explosion at an ammunition depot in the northern city of Keelung on Monday.