China drills improved mly’s combat abilities: Taiwan

TAIPEI: The combat skills of Taiwan’s military are now “more mature” and it is better able to fight thanks to having to repeatedly scramble to see off Chinese forces during their recent drills, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday.

China staged war games in the immediate aftermath of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei last month, angered by what it saw as a strong show of US support for the island Beijing claims as its own territory. Chinese military activities close to Taiwan have continued since then.

Speaking to air force personnel at the Hualien air base on Taiwan’s east coast, Tsai said the situation around the Taiwan Strait remained tense and the threat had not gone away. “In the face of challenges, our national military has calmly responded to the enemy’s intents at intrusion and have tenaciously defended the country’s security,” she said, according to a transcript of the remarks released by the presidential office.

“I believe that after this period of combat readiness missions, our national military’s combat skills are more mature and its combat power is more powerful.” Tsai added that she was “extremely proud” of the armed forces.

The Hualien base has hangers cut out of the side of a mountain and is home to Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16s. Taiwan’s military is also holding two days of drills starting late Tuesday around Hengchun on the far southern tip of the island. Apache attack helicopters, Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighters, artillery and drones will feature in the drills.

Taiwan’s armed forces are well-equipped but dwarfed by China’s. Tsai has been overseeing a modernization program and has made increasing defense spending a priority. Taiwan has set defense as the theme for this year’s Oct 10 national day, with the slogan “You and me join together to protect the land and defend the country,” organisers said on Tuesday.

Tsai will oversee a military parade that day and give a key note speech. Taiwan’s democratically-elected government says that as the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island, it has no right to claim it or decide its future, which can only be set by Taiwan’s people.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.Meanwhile, Taiwan said a Chinese military reconnaissance drone entered its air defence zone on Monday, the latest incursion as relations between the two neighbours remain tense.

The drone, identified by Taipei´s defence ministry as a BZK-007 vehicle, crossed into the southwest corner of the island´s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) along with eight Chinese warplanes.

Taiwan´s ADIZ is much larger than its airspace and overlaps with part of China´s ADIZ and even includes some of the mainland.

China has dramatically increased incursions into Taiwan´s southwestern ADIZ over the last two years, but the use of military drones is rare.

The last time Taiwan´s military reported one was October 2020, one month after it started making data on the frequency of Chinese sorties public. Monday´s incursion came after Taiwanese soldiers on a tiny islet just off China´s mainland shot down an unidentified commercial drone last week.

That was the first time Taiwanese forces have downed a drone, following a sudden spate of incursions by small, commercially available drones in recent weeks. In contrast, the BZK-007 is a much larger, military drone built by the Guizhou Aircraft Industry Corporation that can carry out long-distance flights and boasts much more sophisticated reconnaissance devices.