The People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command announced Wednesday that it wrapped up two days of drills around Taiwan, vowing to maintain combat readiness and prevent any attempts of Taiwanese independence from China.
The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command completed all joint exercise tasks and tested the integrated joint capabilities of the troops between Tuesday and Wednesday, Snr. Col. Shi Yi said in a release.
“The theater troops always maintain a high level of alert, continue to strengthen training and preparation, and resolutely thwart all ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities,” Shi said.
On Wednesday, the troops carried out a military exercise code-named “Strait Thunder 2025A” in the middle and southern sea areas of the Taiwan Strait with the exercise mainly focused on training subjects such as identification and verification, warning and expulsion, and interception and detention, in a bid to test the command’s troops’ capabilities in regional control, joint blockade and precision strike, Shi said.
The Eastern Theater Command also employed the Shandong Carrier Strike Group during the drills in coordination with naval and air units, Shi said.
The troops and the Shandong CSG conducted military drills in areas to the east of Taiwan. The drills included ship-aircraft coordination, seizure of regional air superiority and strike on ground and maritime targets with the purpose of evaluating the troops’ capabilities in conducting integrated operations inside and outside the island chain, multi-dimensional blockade and control and joint operations involving multiple services and arms.
On Tuesday, Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO) reported that the Shandong CSG comprised of aircraft carrier CNS Shandong (17), cruiser CNS Xianyang (108), destroyer CNS Zhanjiang and frigate CNS Hengshui (572). Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Onami (DD-111) shadowed the PLAN CSG. The JSO did not issue any update on the CSG on Wednesday.
The Eastern Theater Command’s ground-based missile units conducted live firing in the East China Sea on Wednesday as part of the drills, involving precision strikes on simulated targets as key ports and energy facilities, according to a release by the command. The Eastern Theatre Command also released a video of the firing, showing a number of PCL-191 multiple rocket launchers deploying to and carrying out firing from a coastal area. As was the case with last year’s Joint Sword series of drills around Taiwan, the Eastern Theatre Command released a number of posters and videos of the drills.
Between 6 a.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday, 76 PLA aircraft, 15 PLAN ships and four official ships were detected operating around Taiwan with 37 sorties crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Wednesday.
The MND also released a video in a post on social media site X showing Republic of China Navy (ROCN) ships monitoring PLAN ships around Taiwan.
Segments showed frigate ROCS Pan Chao (PFG-1108) issuing a warning to destroyer CNS Guelin (164), frigate ROCS Feng Jia (PFG-1115) (ex-USS Gary (FFG-51)), which monitored frigate CNS Wenzhou (526), and frigate ROCS Fen Yang (FFG-934) (ex-USS Kirk (F-1087)), which monitored destroyer CNS Fuzhou (137).
“No matter how the PLA attempts to cloak these actions with exaggerated labels, they cannot justify the inherently provocative nature of such drills. ROC Armed Forces have launched the ‘Rapid Response Exercise.’ We will remain on high alert and safeguard our national security,” reads the post.
China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) issued a media reply on its drills around Taiwan, with MND spokesperson Snr. Col. Zhang Xiaogang saying that the administration of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is rampantly seeking “independence” provocations, exacerbating cross-strait tensions and confrontations.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command organized actual combat joint exercises around Taiwan Island to demonstrate its powerful ability to combat ‘Taiwan independence’ provocations and convey its determination and will to defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” Zhang said, who added that the drills are a powerful deterrent to “Taiwan independence” elements.
Zhang also said that if some countries really want peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, they must abide by the one-China principle and stop sending wrong signals to the Taiwan independence separatist forces.
“The People’s Liberation Army continues to strengthen its military training and preparations, continuously improves its anti-secession and anti-interference combat capabilities, resolutely smashes all ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities, and firmly promotes the process of national reunification,” he said.
