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LAST UPDATE | 8 Apr 2023
CHINA LAUNCHED MILITARY drills around Taiwan today, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government following a meeting between its president and the US House speaker.
Dubbed “United Sharp Sword”, the three-day operation — which state media said includes rehearsing an encirclement of Taiwan — will run until Monday, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command said in a statement.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen immediately denounced the drills, pledging to work with “the US and other like-minded countries” in the face of “continued authoritarian expansionism”.
China’s war games would send planes, ships and personnel into “the maritime areas and air space of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east”, said Shi Yin, a PLA spokesman.
A report from state broadcaster CCTV said: “The task force will simultaneously organise patrols and advances around Taiwan island, shaping an all-round encirclement and deterrence posture.”
The report went on to detail the type of weaponry China was putting through its paces, including “long-range rocket artillery, naval destroyers, missile boats, air force fighters, bombers, jammers and refuellers”.
Taiwan’s defence ministry released a video showing soldiers loading anti-aircraft missile launchers, fighter jets taking off, and other military preparedness exercises.
The footage included surveillance of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier, which sailed through waters south of Taiwan earlier this week.
The 75-second clip, which included English subtitles, ended with a caption saying: “We seek neither escalation nor conflict, but we remain steadfast, rational, and serious to react and defend our territory and sovereignty.”
Exercises on Monday will include live-fire drills off the coast of China’s Fujian province, which faces Taiwan, the local maritime authority said.
The manoeuvres come after a meeting between Tsai and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
China views democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary.
“These operations serve as a stern warning against the collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and external forces and against their provocative activities,” the PLA’s Shi said.
“The operations are necessary for safeguarding China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Taiwan’s defence ministry said eight Chinese warships and 42 fighter jets were detected around the island today.
The ministry expressed “solemn condemnation of such irrational actions”, adding the detections included 29 jets that crossed into Taiwan’s southwestern air defence identification zone (ADIZ), the highest number in a single day this year, according to data collected by AFP.
China was using Tsai’s US visit as an “excuse to conduct military exercises, which has seriously undermined peace, stability and security in the region”, the Taiwanese ministry said.
The drills also follow the departure from Beijing of French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who were in China to urge Xi Jinping to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
China deployed warships, missiles and fighter jets around Taiwan last August in its largest show of force in years, following a trip to the island by McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi.
McCarthy, who is second in line to the US presidency, had originally planned to go to Taiwan himself.
The decision to meet in California instead was viewed as a compromise that would underscore support for Taiwan but avoid inflaming tensions with Beijing.
There were no immediate signs today of heightened military activity on Pingtan, a southeastern Chinese island that is the closest point on the mainland to Taiwan.
A handful of cargo ships cruised through the waters near the coastline, while tourists in sunglasses and baseball caps snapped selfies on viewing platforms.
Tsai returned to Taiwan yesterday after visiting her island’s dwindling band of official diplomatic allies in Latin America, with two US stopovers that included meetings with McCarthy and other lawmakers.
Hours before Tsai met McCarthy on Wednesday, China sent the carrier Shandong through Taiwan’s southeastern waters on its way to the western Pacific.
Beijing said Friday that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China”, after repeatedly warning against the Tsai-McCarthy meeting.
“The future of Taiwan lies in reunification with the motherland,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing.
Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping said the exercises were intended to demonstrate that the Chinese army will be ready if “provocation intensifies” to “solve the Taiwan issue once and for all”.
Dr James Char, research fellow at the China Programme Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the drills underline Beijing’s “nationalist credentials to its domestic audience and score political points at home”.
“It would also be remiss to overlook the fact that the PLA has only begun its drills this time after French President Emmanuel Macron had concluded his state visit to China,” he told AFP.
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Just another government shambles, but as they say, we will learn from this.
@John O Mahony: and hopefully not the hard way.
@John O Mahony: Do you Really think so? Yes when the Russian forces have decided a walkover of this country. A strategic target to begin the cakewalk of Europe. It is then we will see the people climbing back to their hovels with their tails between their legs, after hastily taking down the Ukrainian flags that are dotted around the country. Can you see Ukraine or any other countries hoisting The Tricolour if we were invaded. History has dictated that this will never happen. So why not mind our own business.
Ireland is the gaping hole in EU security. If it weren’t for the fact of the RAF and RN (we have no capability in our own economic zone should cables be interfered with), we would be s c r e w e d. And given Brexit we, an EU nation, have to rely on a third country for defence. An absolute shambles of successive governments have seen the DF weakened.
But sure, aren’t we neutral. Tell that to the Chinese and Russians, and any other would be aggressor. We are like the wimpy kid in the playground, always at risk to a bullies whims.
@AnthonyK: we’ve only ever had one government
@AnthonyK: I see your point but in regards a military it would take billions and billions to build up a military that would still be wiped out in a matter of days against a country like Russia. As regards NATO would they even take us?
@Paddy Ryan: further on that, is it exactly because we are the gaping hole in the EUs defence that we don’t have to spend enormous amounts of money on defence. They will be forced to defend us. A small country like Ireland needs to box clever. Maybe I’m completely wrong but Just a thought.
@James Delaney: The current government is, in fact, the thirty third Dáil Éireann.
@Paddy Ryan: Precisely!
This is what happens when you elect people who are not patriots. They leave the country defenceless.
@Brian Boru: The country is defenceless anyway and spending 58 million would just tell us we are all going to die>
It is outrageous that in this day and age we have absolutely no capability to monitor our territory, not to mention have any chance of knowing what’s coming at us. Neutral or not, that’s the least we should be able to do. It is time this was remedied, there are billions coming our way in corporate taxes, let’s use that rather than “eaten bread soon forgotten “ stuff.
@Mary Conneely: Primary radar doesn’t let you know what’s coming at us. It lets you know something’s there. It’s just a signal return off an object that is tracked. Secondary radar with transponders let’s you know what’s coming…… The radar is irrelevant in defense terms if you don’t have anything to catch up with the intruder to identify it. A PC9 won’t catch up with any jet. The IAA have primary radar AFAIK. The extent of which is not known as they don’t have it published on their website.
@Colm Kane: A huge waste of money in this day and age given our size, location and given the capabilities of any nation that would be an aggressor. Spend the money on patrol boats/search and rescue.
True neutrality isn’t cheap folks. Time to pony up.
@honey badger: we’re not neutral
Keep chipping away all you like, but no to Nato
@Duffy #35: they wouldn’t invite us unless our spend drastically increases, which no government will agree to. Currently spend just over 0.2% of GDP on defence, which would need to be increased to a minimum of 2%. I have seen no pressure whatsoever for us to join NATO.
@Duffy #35: We already have NATO de facto protecting our sea and skies. You can say NO all you like but would it not be better if we coughed up for our own equipment to defend ourselves?
Instead of saying “No to Nato” while happily letting them protect us. on their terms?
@goldiefish72: Their terms, they sound great they do the work, we dont pay for it and we are covered!
So, the cost of such a defence capability would be in excess of 300 Million Euro.
A quick cost benefit analysis might be in order. How much damage to the country has been done by not having such a defence capability? The answer is: none at all.
There are better uses for that 300 million Euro.
@Nestor: really? And you know this how?
Hmmm – “Ireland’s air policing security failure and how the British system keeps their skies safe”. Well I think we all know how Britain keeps their skies safe, they have the RAF. The headline should read, Ireland’s air policing security failure and how the British system keeps OUR/IRISH skies safe, unless of course the author is English and given his name, I doubt it.
@Ann Reddin: Thats all you took from the article? The Author is Irish!!
The headline is correct. The RAF patrol our skies to keep their skies safe. Because we can’t do it. Normal countries would protect their own skies, escort aircraft of interest through safely, then handover to the neighbouring Air Force who escorts it through their own skies.. Thats how Neutral Austria and Switzerland does it.
Maybe try reading beyond the headline before commenting?
Why would anyone go so far out of their way to attack/invad us? We don’t have anything that anybody wants.
@brian o’leary: Why would anyone attack/invade us? Because, given our geographical location, we are strategically important. If. let’s say, Russia decided to invade us tomorrow, that has Europe flanked on two sides, by Russia, Next stop if you head west is the US, and next stop to the east is Britain. So a great location if you want to start launching missiles or send war planes to either of those two “super powers”.
@Ann Reddin: You watched an old James Bond movie last night, didn’t you Ann?
@Ann Reddin: There’s no way Russia would be able to sustain supply lines from Russia to Ireland should they occupy us.
@David Corrigan: I wouldn’t watch a James Bond film if it was the only film ever made. Brian asked a question and I answered it. And if we weren’t that strategically important, then why are Russian u-boats constantly in our territorial waters.
@Ann Reddin: Russia or any other country for that matter has any interest whatsoever in Ireland Ann. The only reason anyone bothers with us is because we are a tax haven for multinationals. I think you can rest easy.
@Steve: it would all depend on how its viewed internationally. would any country care enough to implement a naval blockade. if not then russia could easily maintain an occupation force. plus russia gains the entire irish population as hostages to any foreign intervention.
@Ann Reddin: becase they are trying to get at the Royal Navy. We just happen to be in the way!
@brian o’leary: aside from the first airport that American reinforcements can fly to in Europe, and as Im sure you already know, quite often do so, using it as a refuelling stop. And enemy fighters based in Shannon can therefore intercept all American flights well to the west. Meaning US carriers would have to deploy to protect military transport, both air and sea. Or of course the deep water ports on the west coastfron Donegal to Bantry, ideal for submarine bases that have plenty of opportunity to annihilate shipping from iceland to Spain
@brian o’leary: Yes they do want something from us “Neutrality” which means minding our own business. The present regime in Dublin is making this very difficult. I spoke to a Ukrainian last week. He said that Ukraine and Russia are as bad as each other. When I see a Ukrainian flags floating from houses around the country I think how gullible we are. How much do we really know about the facts for a start. In fact we are leaving ourselves very open to invasion. This much I do know.
Ukraine shows us that manpads and javelins are the way to go. Adopt to guerrilla tactics instead of a standing army that could be wiped out in a day..
@Bart Teeling: what you do not realised is that the Irish defence forces are classed as one of the best trained gorilla warfare armies in the world as everyone in the army is crossed trained in all weapons among a lot of other things
@Pól Ó Broin: Nonsense. Pub talk.
@Pól Ó Broin: Where in the world then have they carried out all this so called gorilla warfare, just name the locations and when.
@Bart Teeling: problem is the day of the flying column is gone. with drone surveillance, attack aircraft and thermal and night vision equipment a column of irregulars moving by foot that wasnt in heavy cover would be screwed
@goldiefish72: Fact, that is the way they have always been trained. My dad had his orders during the Emergency. Two dofferent sets, one if it was the Germans the other if it was the British. It was all gureilla tactics, hit and run, goes back to the war of independence and before.
@Rian Lynch: As shown elsewhere that is not quiet true. A small well trained force can inflict serious damage. For all the tech there is there is tech to block it.
@Pól Ó Broin: Help.
So our skys are full of unidentified flying objects…
We don’t have the population of a large city in the whole of Ireland.Lets not lose the run of ourselves.Opposition TD’S jumping up and down.Who did the think was protecting our skies,Eddie Rockets!
@Paddy Ryan – Ukraine proves the point that a well-trained army ie a NATO well trained army is a match for the Russians.
We could do deals with French, and Spanish forces, even have, as part of a wider EU army, their forces based in Ireland alongside our own.
Who was it again that invaded our shores last?
What happens if societal changes/breakdowns mean once again that it’s not the Russians we need to worry about.
Found money to beef up tds security, but no the country’s. Shameful greed. A case of screw you jack,I’m alright.
“Don’t squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar. These are sickly aims, the false ideals of our age’.
WILDE
Of the 3 neutral countries listed in this article Ireland, Austria and Switzerland, Austria has Eurofighters and Switzerland has F-18 Hornets, Ireland is the only one without any jets. Just because we are neutral that does not mean we don’t need a proper air force and well equipped Defence force. Other countries that are neutral have large defence forces to protect their neutrality.
Ireland is an embarrassment when it comes to our own Defence.
Shambles
If our politicians stop sticking their noses in were it doesn’t belong then we’ve nothing to fear from anyone…the only two country’s that could realistically is the uk and the US….every other scenario is just fear mongering nonsense…
What a joke of a country, flying WW2 aircraft, can only intercept slow moving aircraft that moves at snail pace, they should let the RAF patrol Irish airspace, other wise if left to Paddies, forget it. Like underground Metro a pipe dream that will new be done
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