What China is really up to with live fire drills in the Taiwan Strait

EXPERTS say that provocative activity — including patrols and live fire drills — by China’s huge air force are part of a big, bold plan.

CHINA is being watched very, very carefully as its enormous military conducts aggressive drills in the contested South China Sea.

Australia is on edge, so too the United States. Earlier this week, China was accused of landing military aircraft on artificial islands it promised not to land on and “jamming” communications and radar systems from passing US aircraft carriers.

Today, we heard how the People’s Liberation Army challenged Australian warships passing through the region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s men reportedly had “robust” communications with HMAS Anzac and HMAS Success during the Australian vessels’ goodwill visit to Ho Chi Minh City.

Experts now say the show of force is part of a bigger battle plan from Beijing to “take back Taiwan”.

The South China Morning Post reported on Friday that recent patrols by China’s air force in and around Taiwan are part of a “co-ordinated strike plan” and “comprehensive battle plan for Taiwan”.

Chinese jet fighters pictured during a military drill in the South China Sea. Picture: AFP

Tensions between China and Taiwan remain high. China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province but Taiwan views itself as an independent, sovereign state. Both parties have paraded their respective militaries in the Taiwan Strait this month.

Song Zhongping, a former member of the PLA’s Second Artillery Corps, told the SCMP that China is building a plan to resolve the Taiwan issue.

“The ground force’s aviation drills in Fujian, the air force’s flying over the ‘first island chain’ and the Liaoning full-voyage exercises all indicate that the PLA has a comprehensive battle plan for Taiwan,” he said.

“It seems like the exercise near Fujian was relatively small, but actually, there were several joint operational drills happening in different areas around Taiwan at the same time.

“The comprehensive, joint operational drills suggest the PLA is not just targeting one area, but the whole region.”

It’s a theory supported by a second military expert, who did not wish to be named but told the newspaper the drills were “undoubtedly” part of preparations by China to take back Taiwan by force if necessary.

China’s “challenge” to Australia earlier this month landed on the desk of Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, who said Chinese authorities “asked questions” of the vessels travelling through the region but he would not describe the exchange as a confrontation.

Taiwan’s Knox-class frigate fires chaff during a navy exercise in the northeast of Taiwan last Friday. Picture: Chiang Ying-ying/AFP

“From what I understand, in the normal course of events, questions are asked, sometimes more robustly than other times,” Mr Pyne told reporters in Adelaide on Friday.

“That doesn’t change our views about being able to navigate the South China Sea. We will continue to do so along with the United States. We do it very, very regularly with all kinds of commercial vessels but also with our navy platforms.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not reveal exactly what happened in the exchange with the Chinese military when questioned on the sidelines of the CHOGM meeting in London on Thursday.

“All I can say to you is Australia asserts and practices its right of freedom of navigation throughout the world’s oceans, including of course the South China Sea,” Mr Turnbull said.

The Defence Department issued a statement confirming the three vessels recently travelled through the region but refused to provide details of the interactions between Australia’s warships and the Chinese military, the ABC reported on Friday.

“As they have done for many decades, Australian vessels and aircraft will continue to exercise rights under international law to freedom of navigation and overflight, including in the South China Sea,” the department said in a statement.

— With AAP