Taiwan monitors Chinese military buildup, calls China a threat to stability

Taiwan said Thursday (11) it was closely monitoring the Chinese military, which Taipei said posed a growing threat to the region, after a number of warplanes passed close to the island to take part in exercises with China’s aircraft carrier Shandong in the Pacific.

The Chinese military exercises coincide with a NATO summit in Washington, where a draft statement said China had become a key enabler of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and that Beijing continued to pose systemic challenges to Europe and its security.

The Shandong passed close to the Philippines on its way to exercises in the Pacific, Taiwan’s defense minister said on Wednesday (10).

In its daily update on Chinese military activity over the past 24 hours, released Thursday morning, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft around the island.

Of those, 39 passed south and southeast of Taiwan, the ministry said. On Wednesday, the ministry said it had detected 36 aircraft heading to the Western Pacific to conduct exercises with the Shandong.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry released two photos, a grainy black-and-white image of a Chinese J-16 fighter jet and a color image of a nuclear-capable H-6 bomber, that it said were taken recently, but it did not say exactly where or when.

“The military has a detailed understanding of the activities in the seas and waters around the Taiwan Strait, including the Chinese Communists’ aircraft and ships,” ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said in a statement.

Taiwanese forces have tracked the two Chinese warplanes that were photographed, he said.

China’s Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on Shandong’s activities.

In a speech to military officials in Taipei, President Lai Ching-te said he would continue to strengthen the island’s defenses.

“The Chinese communists’ threat to regional stability continues to increase, and their intrusions into the gray zone of the Taiwan Strait and adjacent areas are also increasing day by day, which is a common challenge to global democracy,” he said, according to a statement from his office.