Taiwan’s military will issue warnings before shooting down aircraft or destroying ships from the People’s Liberation Army, the island’s defence minister said on Tuesday (Oct 18).
“If the [PLA] launches the first strike, the military here will first issue warnings or alarms in line with our set procedures,” Chiu Kuo-cheng said, clarifying speculation that the island would take down or destroy any PLA planes or ships immediately after they cross Taiwan’s “red lines”.
Earlier this month, Chiu redefined the first strike by the PLA as any of its aerial and naval vehicles breaching the island’s 12-nautical mile (22.2km) territorial limit.
Earlier this month Chiu told lawmakers the military had previously defined a PLA first strike as an assault involving artillery or missiles. But in recent months, because the PLA used drones to cross what the island’s military considered its “red lines” or territorial limits, his ministry redefined a first strike to include planes or ships crossing into Taiwan’s territorial waters.
At the time, he did not elaborate on what countermeasures the island’s military would take, raising speculation that Taiwan would destroy planes or ships once they crossed the “red line”.
But on Tuesday, when asked by reporters for clarification, Chiu said the standard procedure would be for the island’s military to issue warnings and determine the nature of the intruder before acting.
“Any such responses are known as a self-defensive counter-attack,” he said, adding that the island’s military would remain highly cautious and did not want to trigger a cross-strait war.
In early August, the PLA held unprecedented live-fire drills and fired ballistic missiles over Taiwan in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, a trip Beijing saw as a violation of its sovereignty and a breach of Washington’s one-China policy.
Since then it has increased the intensity and frequency of joint combat drills. It has also sent warplanes and ships across the median line in the Taiwan Strait – a de facto boundary between the two sides.
Those crossings have continued in what Taiwanese and US officials say is an effort by the PLA to create a new normal.
On Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the Communist Party’s national congress that Beijing would do its utmost to achieve peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but would not rule out the use of force to bring the island under its control.
In response, Chiu said “we will continue to strengthen our combat readiness” regardless of whether Beijing renounces the use of force against the island.
This article was first published in Asia One . All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
