China Conducts Military Exercises, President Tsai Warns Intruders
United Daily News, September 11 and 12, 2020
Recently, both U.S. and Chinese military aircraft and ships have continuously appeared in the airspace and sea around Taiwan. In the past few days, a reconnaissance vessel of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has also appeared waters off Taitung and Hualien (on east coast). It was suspected of spying on our military bases. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) stated that all was under control and close monitoring.
National Security officials said that an unscheduled press conference of the MND on the night of September 10 was the first more complete disclosure of the movements of the PLA. A simultaneous press conference by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was meant for making China’s military actions "transparent" to the international community and publicly shared relevant security information with countries in the region and around the world. President Tsai attended two national security-related functions in one day on the 11th to declare her position on protecting national security and inviolability of Taiwan’s sovereignty.
At the first enlarged meeting of the National Defense Safety Jobs Conference President Tsai stated that the overall goal of the national defense safety jobs was to protect the national security and social stability of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and she emphasized that all agencies must ensure that the infrastructure upon which the country and society operate fully protected to avoid the country being paralyzed.
President Tsai inspected the Patriot missile base at Wan-Li in New Taipei City the same day. President Tsai said that there was harassment by the incursions of PLA fighters into our southwest airspace in the past few days. In response to this, Taiwanese arm forces were on alert around the clock, closely monitored and coped with it throughout the course, and proactively released relevant images. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) also held a press conference to convey immediately to the international community the improper behavior of incursion into our Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) by the PLA.
President Tsai pointed out that she solemnly warned the intruders not to underestimate the determination of Taiwan's army to protect the homeland, not to ignore the will of the Taiwanese people to ensure a free and democratic way of life, and not to become the party that undermines the regional peace and stability. "Taiwan would not budge an inch on issues of sovereign territory" stressed President Tsai.
The small missile unit has a great responsibility, as it entrusts them with air defense across northern Taiwan. They must be combat-ready around the clock and monitor all incoming air traffic, President Tsai touted a steel army like this one, small but with great responsibility, and expressed appreciation for their hard work and dedication.
The PLA has been conducting large-scale joint naval and air exercises in the airspace and waters of southwestern Taiwan. About one-third of the exercise area was within Taiwan’s ADIZ. MND and MOFA simultaneously condemned the Chinese Communist as a serious provocation on Thursday night; Deputy Defense Minister Chang Che-ping called on Beijing to exercise restraint and stop being a troublemaker. The recent harassment actions have aroused the resentment of the Taiwanese people.
MOFA stated that the PRC’s military action is a serious provocation to Taiwan and a serious threat to regional security and stability. This served as a warning to both the region and the world. "The PLA conducts military exercises around Taiwan today, it can pose the same threat to other countries tomorrow."
According to the MND, PLA navy and air force took off from the bases across the Strait on the 9th and 10th for two consecutive days. Included were the Su-30, J-10 fighters, Y-8 anti-submarine planes, and together with various types of naval ships. With multiple forces, multiple sorties, and multiple ships, the PLA entered the southwest sea and airspace of Taiwan’s ADIZ to conduct joint navy and air force exercises.
The MND displayed a sketch map of the PLA movements in the southwest airspace and waters of Taiwan and showed the Chinese fighter planes and ships incursions into our Southwestern ADIZ for consecutive two days. It pointed out that the planes flew east from the southern most point of the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered ADIZ. The closest distance between the PLA plane and ship exercise area and Taiwan is only about 90 miles (about 166 kilometers). This large-scale joint naval and air exercise was not aimed at the US military as in the past, but the Chinese Communist Rocket Force and the Amphibious Ship-Landing Force did not take part in the exercise.
The MND stated that the major purpose of the PLA’s exercises here is to make it a normal activity and gradually compress Taiwan's maneuver airspace. "This is a very serious act of provocation. Besides alerts, Taiwan's army also uses broadcast warnings to repel, but avoids to spark conflict accidentally."
From:
https://udn.com/news/story/10930/4851507