China holds live-fire drills around island closest to Taiwan

RFA Staff

Taipei, Taiwan — China conducted a live-fire exercise on Tuesday around Niushan island – the closest part of China’s territory to Taiwan – which Taipei said could be part of a “deterrent effect” that Beijing was intent on creating.

The Pingtan Maritime Safety Administration of China’s Fujian province issued a navigation warning on Monday for an area along the coast of Niushan island, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands and 165 kilometers (102 miles) from Taipei. It said live firing would be carried out and vessels were prohibited from entering the no-navigation zone.

Niushan island is to the east of Pingtan county in Fujian province and is known for its landmark lighthouse that helps ships navigate the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan’s ministry of defense said in a statement that the drills were believed to be routine but it could not rule out that they were part of the Chinese military’s plans to “expand the deterrent effect” in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan’s military uses joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems to closely monitor and analyze Chinese activities and intentions, the ministry said, vowing to “respond appropriately.”

It is rare for China to conduct live-fire exercises so close to Taiwan’s main island. It follows the Joint Sword-2024B military drills around Taiwan on Oct. 14.

Taiwan’s defense ministry also said that China planned to launch a carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the direction of the West Pacific on Wednesday and that the rocket was expected to fly through the island’s air defense identification zone, or ADIZ. An ADIZ is a buffer zone between international airspace and a country’s territorial airspace and is often closely monitored for national security purposes.

Taiwan Strait transit

China considers Taiwan a Chinese province and claims sovereignty over the island, as well as the waters around it.

The Chinese military responded angrily to a recent transit through the Taiwan Strait by U.S. and Canadian warships, calling it a “provocative move.”

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said its Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Vancouver conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Oct. 20 “through waters where high-seas freedom of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law.”

The transit “demonstrated the United States and Canada’s commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle,” it said, adding that, “The international community’s navigational rights and freedoms in the Taiwan Strait should not be limited.”

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command denounced the transit, saying it “disturbed the situation and undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

The command organized naval and air forces to track and monitor the U.S. and Canadian naval vessels over the whole course of their transit, it said.

Prior to the U.S.-Canada transit, a Japanese frigate joined forces with Australian and New Zealand warships to patrol the Taiwan Strait at the end of September and a German warship passed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time in 22 years in mid-September.

“The democratic allies have clearly declared through their actions to defend the rights to freedom of navigation, and reject China’s absurd attempt to treat the Taiwan Strait as its inland sea,” said Lee Wen-Chung, chief executive officer at the Taiwan government-associated Institute for National Defense and Security Research.

Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.