China’s military held another round of exercises near Taiwan last week to improve joint fighting, the People’s Liberation Army of China said on Monday after an increase in Chinese military activity was found on the island claimed by the Chinese.
Over the past two years, Taiwan has complained about frequent Chinese military operations near it, most of which are concentrated in the southern and southwestern part of the island’s air defense identification zone.
The Taiwan Air Force on Friday alerted 18 Chinese aircraft that had entered the island’s air defense identification zone and reported more incursions on Saturday and Sunday, albeit with fewer aircraft.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Command said in a statement that the navy and air force conducted exercises from Friday to Sunday in areas east and southwest of Taiwan.
Without going into details, she added, the exercises were aimed at “testing and improving the combined combat capability of several types and types of weapons.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said the exercise involved equipment including bombers, fighter jets and anti-submarine aircraft.
She added that no shots were fired and Chinese planes did not fly into Taiwanese airspace, but the planes flew into the island’s air defense identification zone, a wider area that Taiwan controls and patrols, to give it more time to respond to any threats.
Japan reported last week that eight Chinese Navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, passed between the islands of Japan’s southern chain of Okinawa, northeast of Taiwan.
Taiwan also held previously announced missile and other exercises off its southern and southeastern coasts last week.
China has never given up the possibility of using force to assert its control over democratically ruled Taiwan, and the Taiwan Strait remains a potentially dangerous military hotbed.
Taiwan’s government rejects China’s claim to sovereignty, saying only the island’s 23 million inhabitants can decide their future.
