Taiwan says China test-fires two missiles in latest military drills off island

A Taiwanese flag flutters in the wind at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. I-HWA CHENG / AFP China has deployed a record number of military aircraft, warships and coast guards to encircle Taiwan on Monday, October 14, as part of its fourth series of large-scale military exercises in just over two years. Beijing also carried out test-firing of two missiles “inland”, a Taiwanese national security official said on condition of anonymity during a meeting held on the following day. According to the latter, a “significant part” of the Chinese maneuvers at the beginning of the week, which lasted thirteen hours, was an exercise in blockading the island, reports Agence France-Presse. “If China actually blocks the Taiwan Strait or Taiwan’s major ports, it will cause chaos in international trade,” he warned. Although the ability of Chinese forces “to move from exercises to war has gradually strengthened, we continue to believe that war is neither imminent nor inevitable,” the Taiwanese official added. Monday’s exercises were seen by observers as a response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s speech on Thursday to mark the island’s National Day. Mr. Lai pledged to “resist Chinese annexation” of the island and “the encroachment of [sa] sovereignty”. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers One military exercise after another, China is preparing for a potential invasion of Taiwan Add to your selections After the visit of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to Taiwan in August 2022, China had launched massive military exercises, with missiles sent over Taiwan. China considers the island as one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content



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