China drills ‘silent intimidation’: Taiwan
NO ANNOUNCEMENT: The ‘silent drills without a name’ appeared deliberate and aim to allow Beijing to apply military pressure without a diplomatic backlash, a source said
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard / Reuters
China carried out a large, unannounced military exercise across the western Pacific and around Taiwan early this month, in what officials in Taipei have described as a campaign of “silent intimidation” aimed at pressuring Taiwan and other governments before major international meetings.
China’s military and coast guard had at one point massed more than 100 vessels in the region early this month, conducting drills that included simulated attacks on other militaries and cities including Taiwan’s, a senior Taiwan security official said on condition of anonymity.
The naval deployment was larger than “Justice Mission 2025,” China’s last formally named drills targeting Taiwan nearly one year ago and one of the largest Chinese naval deployments to date, the official said.
A Taiwan Coast Guard patrol vessel sails in Keelung on Dec. 30 last year.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The drills come as China has stepped up its military pressure over the past five years, drawing condemnation from Taipei and heightening concern in Western capitals about the potential for conflict.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Thursday gave a major policy speech about Taiwan, urging peaceful “unification,” and made no mention of using force.
During the latest drills, a Chinese submarine launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yellow Sea into the Chinese mainland, the official said.
“It is a silent exercise — and in effect, silent intimidation,” they said. “This is like a robber hiding a gun in the pocket of a coat — with the muzzle pointed at the bank teller. It scares the teller into handing over the money, while avoiding setting off the alarm and bringing in a large police response.”
Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) this week said China was carrying out “area denial” drills in the western Pacific involving an aircraft carrier and other naval formations.
China has said the carrier is on “routine” exercises that are not directed at any country.
Beijing is hosting the APEC leaders’ summit in Shenzhen next week, where US President Donald Trump and Xi are expected to meet for the third time this year.
Taiwan also attends APEC.
A foreign intelligence source said the “silent drills without a name,” given the lack of a public announcement by China, appeared to be meant to allow Beijing to apply military pressure while avoiding a diplomatic backlash.
The latter part of the year, when the weather is typically calmer, is when China normally carries out drills, they said.
The Chinese drills involved coordinated naval forces from its eastern, northern and southern theater commands, a scale that suggested Beijing was rehearsing not only a Taiwan blockade scenario, but broader operations across the western Pacific, the official said.
That also suggested China’s effort to integrate regional fleets into a single far-seas operational force, the official added.
A national security official said the latest “scripted drills” around Taiwan reveal Beijing’s broader ambitions to project military power and exert pressure across the First Island Chain.
An analysis of the Liaoning aircraft carrier group’s movements since the middle of last month showed that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rehearsed not only breaking through the island chain’s defenses, but also striking military forces in other parts of the region, they said.
The PLA earlier this month conducted drills involving submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles from waters east of Taiwan toward inland targets, they said, adding that with a range extending to Hawaii and Guam, the exercises point to Beijing’s ambition to establish military dominance across the First Island Chain.
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