Chinese warships stayed at least 24 nautical miles away from Taiwan’s coast during recent military drills despite warnings from Beijing that they could come well within the island’s territorial waters, according to senior government officials in Taipei.
Taiwan’s government had prepared a range of measures aimed at defending its sovereignty without further escalating tensions if Chinese warships ventured closer to the Taiwanese coastline, said the officials, who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to discuss security matters publicly.
Prior to the drills following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip, Beijing warned ships and airplanes to avoid six exclusion zones surrounding the main island of Taiwan. One of the areas came within 12 kilometers (6.5 nautical miles) of Taiwan’s shoreline, which represents territorial seas under the United Nations Law of the Sea.
Earlier this month, Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army, told state broadcaster CGTN that a “a tight siege was formed around Taiwan for the first time, providing a powerful deterrent to proponents of Taiwanese independence” during the drills, suggesting China had come close to the island.
While China displayed an ability to resupply ships during the exercises, Taiwan’s military had been prepared for Beijing to conduct even more provocative measures that would’ve forced the island to take action, Taipei officials said.
In a statement to Bloomberg, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said it deployed warships around its contiguous zone 24 nautical miles from shore and denied Chinese vessels access during the drills.
China’s drills in response to Pelosi’s visit were its most provocative in decades, and included missiles shot directly over Taiwan. Beijing also scrapped talks with the US in a range of areas including defense and climate, as the world’s biggest economies continue to move further apart.
The officials said Taiwan was bracing for more pressure, assessing that Chinese President Xi Jinping may try to shift public attention from slowing economic growth, strict Covid lockdowns and a mounting property-market crisis. Taiwan also fears he may come under greater pressure domestically to complete his oft-touted “historical task” of gaining control of Taiwan toward the end of his next five-year term, they said.
Beijing frequently warns other countries to avoid any contact with Taiwan’s government that can imply the democratically ruled island is its own separate nation. China views Taiwan as part of its territory, a claim the government in Taipei rejects.
Taiwan monitored the exercises using radar, including systems used for missile defense, one of the officials said. Chinese warplanes have breached the median line that divides the Taiwan Strait on a daily basis since Pelosi’s visit, shrinking the tacit buffer zone that has kept the peace for decades. China has flown more than 320 warplanes across the median line and into the southwestern part of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone this month as of Tuesday, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry.
Taiwan’s top priority now is to prepare for a possible invasion from as early as 2025 by building up its mobile-yet-lethal asymmetric warfare capabilities within a short span of time. Ukraine’s use of US Javelin anti-tank systems and Stinger anti-aircraft weapons offer crucial lessons for Taiwan’s defense, they said.
Another lesson Taiwan learned from the war in Ukraine is the importance of maintaining resilient communications, power and other key infrastructure, ensuring the government’s ability to operate effectively during in wartime, the officials said.
Still, Taiwan hopes to dissuade China from even attempting an all-out invasion by beefing up the public’s determination to defend themselves. Strengthening Taiwan’s asymmetric warfare capabilities, reserve forces and support among the international community are also part of an effective deterrence to prevent a war from happening in the first place, they said.
