Chinese warships and aircraft rehearse surrounding Taiwan after leader meets US House Speaker

The US Navy has moved through the South China Sea, as Chinese fighter jets and warships have simulated precision strikes on Taiwan.

The US Navy said its guided-missile destroyer the USS Milius sailed through waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea in a “freedom of navigation” operation on Monday.

“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea,” the Navy said in a statement, adding that the ship had passed near the Spratly Islands.

About 1,300 kilometres away, Chinese fighter jets and warships are carrying out three days of military drills around Taiwan, including simulated strikes on the island.

The exercises sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely”.

On Monday, Beijing said fighter jets carrying “live ammunition” had conducted “simulated strikes” near Taiwan and that its Shandong aircraft carrier was involved in the ongoing exercises.

“Multiple batches of H-6K fighters carrying live ammunition... carried out multiple waves of simulated strikes on important targets on Taiwan Island,” the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement, adding that the Shandong also “participated in today’s exercise”.

The fighter jets and warships encircled the island during a second straight day of military drills launched in response to its president meeting the US House speaker.

The exercises sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely”.

Taiwanese military vessels taking part in a drill off the coast of Taiwan. Picture: AFP

Dubbed “Joint Sword”, the three-day operation -- which includes rehearsing an encirclement of Taiwan -- will run until Monday, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command said.

“I am a little worried; I would be lying to you if I say that I am not,” said 73-year-old Donald Ho, who was exercising in a park on Sunday morning in Taipei, in the far north of the self-ruled island.

“I am still worried because if a war broke out both sides will suffer quite a lot,” he told AFP.

China’s war games sent planes, ships and personnel into “the maritime areas and air space of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east”, the army said as it launched the exercises, engineered to flex Beijing’s military muscles in front of Taiwan and the world.

Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong pictured in Pacific Ocean waters on Friday. A Chinese anti-submarine helicopter and three warships were detected around the Taiwan. Picture: AFP

A report from state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday said drills had “simulated joint precision strikes against key targets on Taiwan island and surrounding waters”, adding that forces “continued to maintain the situation of closely encircling the island”.

The write-up went on to say the air force had deployed dozens of aircraft to “fly into the target airspace”, and ground forces had carried out drills for “multi-target precision strikes”.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen immediately denounced the drills, which come after she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

She pledged to work with “the US and other like-minded countries” in the face of “continued authoritarian expansionism”.

In Washington, a State Department spokesperson said the US had “consistently urged restraint and no change to the status quo”, but noted it had ample resources to fulfil its security commitments in Asia.

The US has been deliberately ambiguous on whether it would defend Taiwan militarily, although for decades it has sold weapons to Taipei to help ensure its self-defence.

CHINESE WARSHIPS, AIRCRAFT SURROUND TAIWAN IN DRILL

China launched military drills around Taiwan on Sunday, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government following a meeting between its president and the US House speaker.

The move sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely”.

Dubbed “United Sharp Sword”, the three-day operation — which state media said includes rehearsing an encirclement of Taiwan — will run until Monday, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement.

China’s war games would send planes, ships and personnel into “the maritime areas and air space of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east”, said Shi Yin, a PLA spokesman.

A report from state broadcaster CCTV said: “The task force will simultaneously organise patrols and advances around Taiwan island, shaping an all-round encirclement and deterrence posture.” The report went on to detail the type of weaponry China was putting through its paces, including “long-range rocket artillery, naval destroyers, missile boats, air force fighters, bombers, jammers and refuellers”.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen immediately denounced the drills, which come after she met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

She pledged to work with “the US and other like-minded countries” in the face of “continued authoritarian expansionism”.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said the United States had “consistently urged restraint and no change to the status quo”, but noted it had ample resources to fulfil its security commitments in Asia.

Tourists take photographs of the Chinese mainland and Chinese flagged sand dredgers from the bunker of an old Taiwan military observatory on Sunday in Kinmen, Taiwan. Picture: Getty

The United States has been ambiguous on whether it would militarily defend Taiwan, although for decades it has sold weapons to Taipei to help ensure its self-defence.

Taiwan’s defence ministry released a video showing soldiers loading anti-aircraft missile launchers, fighter jets taking off, and other military preparedness exercises.

The footage included surveillance of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier, which sailed through waters south of Taiwan earlier this week.

The 75-second clip, which included English subtitles, ended with a caption saying: “We seek neither escalation nor conflict, but we remain steadfast, rational, and serious to react and defend our territory and sovereignty.”

LIVE-FIRE EXERCISES

Exercises on Monday included live-fire drills off the coast of China’s Fujian province, which faces Taiwan, the local maritime authority said.

“These operations serve as a stern warning against the collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and external forces and against their provocative activities,” the PLA’s Shi said.

“The operations are necessary for safeguarding China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.” China views democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said nine Chinese warships and 71 military aircraft had been detected around the island on Sunday.

An earlier tally had already taken the number of daily aircraft crossings into Taiwan’s southwestern air defence identification zone (ADIZ) to a new single day high this year, AFP data showed.

“The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) deliberately created tension in the Taiwan Strait, which … has a negative impact on the security and economic development of the international community,” the defence ministry said.

The drills also follow the departure from Beijing of French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who were in China to urge Xi Jinping to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

‘WE WILL NEVER YIELD’

China deployed warships, missiles and fighter jets around Taiwan last August in its largest show of force in years, following a trip to the island by McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi.

McCarthy, who is the second in line to the US presidency after the Vice President, had originally planned to go to Taiwan himself.

The decision to meet in California instead was viewed as a compromise that would underscore support for Taiwan but avoid inflaming tensions with Beijing.

“I am the Speaker of the House. There is no place that China is going to tell me where I can go or who I can speak to,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter.

There were no immediate signs on Sunday of heightened military activity on the southeastern Chinese island of Pingtan, the country’s closest point to Taiwan.

People walk along the street next to the Taipei 101 building in Taipei on Sunday as China launched military drills around Taiwan. Picture: AFP

A handful of cargo ships cruised through the waters near the coastline, while tourists snapped selfies on viewing platforms.

Tsai returned to Taiwan on Saturday after visiting her island’s dwindling band of official diplomatic allies in Latin America, with two US stopovers that included meetings with McCarthy and other politicians.

Hours before Tsai met McCarthy on Wednesday, China sent the carrier Shandong through Taiwan’s southeastern waters on its way to the western Pacific.

“The future of Taiwan lies in reunification with the motherland,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Taiwanese warships anchored in Keelung on Saturday as President Tsai Ing-wen returned from the US after meeting Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy. Picture: Getty

Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping said the exercises were intended to demonstrate that the Chinese army will be ready, if “provocation intensifies”, to “solve the Taiwan issue once and for all”.

James Char, a research fellow in the China Program at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, told AFP the drills underlined Beijing’s “nationalist credentials to its domestic audience and score political points at home”.