Chinese forces tested their ability to deploy ballistic missiles designed to strike U.S. aircraft carriers, as Beijing raises the specter of an invasion of neighboring Taiwan in response to a recent visit to the island by three U.S. senators.
“We have been holding night exercises on a regular basis recently, which usually continues until early the next day,” People’s Liberation Army Col. Jiang Feng said of the Tuesday drills, according to regional media. “We often change training grounds, striking targets, and launch bases without prior notice to test the troops’ skills and pave the way for the brigade to fight and be able to fight at any time.”
Chinese state media reportedly released footage of the DF-26 missiles, known as “carrier killers.” The display comes on the heels of “amphibious landing drills” that state media linked to the arrival in Taiwan of a bipartisan Senate delegation. In tandem, the drills call attention to Chinese preparations to invade the island democracy and combat U.S. forces that might attempt to intervene to defend Taiwan.
“If anyone dares to separate Taiwan island from China, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will give it a head-on strike and firmly defend national reunification and territorial integrity at all costs,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Tuesday, when the missile test reportedly took place.
US AND JAPAN WARN CHINA NOT TO ATTACK TAIWAN
The mainland Chinese government claims sovereignty over Taiwan but has never ruled the island, which is the last redoubt of the government overthrown in the communist revolution. The United States has not had diplomatic relations with Taipei since 1979, when former President Jimmy Carter established diplomatic ties with Beijing in a bid to drive a wedge between the Chinese Communist regime and the Soviet Union, but Washington has maintained friendly unofficial ties with Taiwan and is bound by federal law to provide “such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary” for the island government “to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities.”
The DF-26s create a math problem for the Pentagon. U.S. lawmakers expect that most American warships would have to leave the region in a crisis in order to escape the range of the “carrier killers.” American submarines could still operate closer to Taiwan, and B-52 bombers could arrive in as little as 28 hours, but U.S. strategists perceive a need to position additional land-based missiles in the region, in order to have enough missiles within range of Chinese positions in a major conflict.
“Now, the mainland’s military advantage over Taiwan is overwhelming,” the Global Times, a Chinese state media outlet, wrote this week. “We also have the ability to prevent the US’ military intervention if a serious cross-Straits crisis happens. The mainland already has the dominant power to decide how and the pace to resolve the Taiwan question.”
U.S. allies in the region could help offset that perceived Chinese advantage. Australian officials are spending $10 billion to extend the life of six submarines.
“We need to be realistic about what lies ahead by way of threat in our own region, and the submarine capacity is a significant part of how we mitigate that risk, and it’s important we get the program right,” Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said Thursday.
South Korea is also poised to upgrade its missile capabilities after President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to scrap historic limits on Seoul’s missile arsenal in a recent meeting at the White House. Moon’s government avoids diplomatic disputes with Beijing, in part due to South Korea’s economic dependence on China, but the two presidents “emphasized the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” in their joint statement last month.
China’s defense ministry denounced the visit by the three senators in part because they flew to Taipei on a C-17, a military cargo plane “capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo to main operating bases or directly to forward bases,” as the U.S. Air Force notes. Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan joined two Democratic senators, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Chris Coons of Delaware, on the flight to announce that Taiwan would receive 750,000 vaccines from the U.S.
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Sullivan emphasized the geopolitical significance of the trip, in addition to the public health ramifications of the vaccines.
“Over twenty-five years ago, I was deployed as part of a U.S. Marine Corps amphibious task force to the Taiwan Strait during a very challenging and critical time for Taiwan’s democracy,” he said. “America’s presence then was in response to Chinese provocations on the eve of the presidential election in Taiwan and it demonstrated American commitment and resolve. Today’s bipartisan Senate delegation visit to Taiwan is yet another demonstration of that continued commitment to our friends and partners in this critical area of the world, as well as a reminder of how the United States’ presence over the past several decades has been instrumental in the development of security, prosperity and democracy throughout the Indo-Pacific region.”
