A senior Taiwan security official claimed that China is building its capacity to turn military drills into “conflict.”
According to Reuters, the security official, while providing Taiwan’s government takeaways from the China military drills earlier this week, said that it seems that Beijing is preparing for a full-out attack.
The official speaking anonymously at a briefing in Taipei said, “They are increasing the building up of their capacity to turn military exercises into a conflict… They approached very close to Taiwan. They increased their pressure on Taiwan and squeezed Taiwan’s response time.”
He revealed that during the military exercises, China launched missiles towards an unspecified area of the island.
The official further added, “This drill presented more of a threat than ever before to Taiwan,” adding “Although they did not fire missiles towards Taiwan this time, they did practice missile launches.”
This came after China launched large-scale military activities on Monday, October 14, 2024, as a stern warning to the “separatist” state in response to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s National Day speech.
As per Taiwan reports, a record 153 Chinese aircraft participated in the drill while 25 Chinese navy and coast guard boats also approached close to Taiwan’s 24-mile (39-km) contiguous zone.
Taiwan for the past five years has been reporting about Chinese military activities around the island, including four rounds of major “joint combat readiness patrols.”
