‘Destroy them’: China’s dark warning on Taiwan after sending warplanes into the region

China has exploded with rage and made a chilling new military move that it claims will mean anyone standing in their way will be “destroyed”.

China has given its strongest warning yet that it’s ready to “reunify” Taiwan – claiming it would be an “easy mission” for its army and that any forces trying to save the island would be “destroyed on the spot”.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has announced via its state media that on Monday it sent five warplanes to an area southwest of the island.

The superpower says the deployment was a major escalation of its powers in the region because one of the five planes is a refuelling variant of the Y-20 large transport aircraft.

“This is the first time this type of plane has appeared in the aerial area near Taiwan island, and this has caused a new sensation,” Chinese state media bragged overnight.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes also entered the aerial area southeast of Taiwan on Sunday, according to the report.

A Y-20 large transport aircraft, which China has deployed over Taiwan. Picture: Liu Shu

This is important because China believes the southeast of Taiwan is one of the directions the US troops may come from if Washington decides to intervene in a war in the Taiwan Strait. “This exercise is believed to be a wartime mission aimed at striking targets in the eastern part of the island and smashing US forces which may come to Taiwan’s rescue,” the Chinese government-run Global Times reported.

The report reveals that the Chinese government considers the operation to capture Taiwan as an “easy mission” – and the deployment of a Y-20 makes it even easier.

“In other words, when the PLA wants to achieve reunification by force, it is ready to confront the forces of external intervention and drive them away or destroy them on the spot,” the Times piece reads.

China says seizing Taiwan would be an ‘easy mission’.

“One of the mainland’s military mottos is that we do not fight an unprepared war. We also believe that we have to win if we have to be in a war.

“To gain an overwhelming advantage in a possible war in the future, the PLA has implemented training preparations for the worst-case scenario to ensure that it will win no matter how the situation evolves.”

China wants the US to ‘give up’

The CCP stressed that it did not “want war” – but that by building up its military capabilities in the region it hoped it would force the US and its allies to “calm down and give up” their military involvement if a war breaks out.

The build-up of warplanes in the region comes as a defence expert has warned that China now has a standing army of around two million which makes “probably the largest military in the world”.

However, it’s in its naval capacity that China is making up the most ground now – with the superpower hitting a major new milestone in recent months.

Dr Alexey Muraviev, an associate professor of National Security and Strategic Studies at Curtin University, told news.com.au the PLA Navy has now exceeded the numerical strength of the United States Navy, thus making it technically the largest naval force in the world by ship count.

China now has a bigger navy than the US. Picture: AFP

And, as its powers grow, China has become incensed by criticism over its stance on Taiwan.

It became particularly angry over the weekend after politicians from several European nations visited Taiwan.

Among the visitors was a politician from Lithuania, a small Baltic nation which has stoked fury from China in recent weeks after it allowed Taiwan to open a representative office – a de facto embassy – in its capital Vilnius.

The People’s Republic of China is irate because the new office will have the title “Taiwan” instead of “Taipei”.

A Lithuanian politician visiting Taiwan said on Monday there was “wide support” among the public in his country for warming relations with the island.

Matas Maldeikis led a delegation of parliamentarians from Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia that arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, the latest in a recent string of visits by foreign politicians despite Beijing’s opposition.

Why Taiwan has become a flashpoint

China claims sovereignty over self-ruled democratic Taiwan and vows to re-take it one day, by force if necessary.

It has become increasingly bellicose towards Taiwan since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who rejects its stance that the island is part of Chinese territory.

Lithuania is among a group of Baltic and Central European countries that are seeking closer ties with Taiwan, even if that angers Beijing.

In May, Lithuania announced it was quitting China’s 17+1 co-operation forum with Central and Eastern European states, calling it “divisive”.

Lithuania’s decision to allow Taiwan to open a representative office under its own name further infuriated China, which downgraded diplomatic ties with the country this month.

Beijing baulks at any use of the word “Taiwan”, or any references to the island as a “country” and diplomatic gestures that might lend a sense of international legitimacy to the island.

“Lithuanian government policy toward Taiwan has wide support in our society,” said Maldeikis when meeting Mr Tsai.

Members of a People's Liberation Army. Picture: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

“There are a lot of opportunities for economic and cultural co-operation between our countries,” he said.

“A long-term stable and efficient co-operation is possible precisely because our societies are based on the same principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law.”

He hopes Vilnius’s soon-to-be-opened trade office in Taipei will help strengthen bilateral ties and contribute to closer relations between Taiwan and the European Union.

Beijing on Monday condemned the visit by Baltic politicians and said those who “damage China’s sovereignty will inevitably pay a due price”.

On Sunday, China sent warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, the same day as the Baltic delegation was arriving and after a second delegation of US politicians visited the island this month.

Beijing has ramped up military activities near Taiwan in recent years, with a record number of aircraft intruding into the zone in early October.

In the Global Times piece, the CCP blasted the visit as “boring bubbles” compared to the mainland’s “solid military preparations”.

“They will not have any substantial impact on the development of the situation,” it said. “How the Taiwan question will be resolved will eventually be shaped by both the will of the Chinese people to achieve reunification and our national strength.”

– With AFP