Taiwan military exercise 'a waste of effort': expert

Source
Global Times
Editor
Huang Panyue
Time
2018-06-05 08:40:57

Taiwan is conducting its latest Han Kuang live-fire military exercise, which Chinese mainland experts said on Monday was a waste of effort.

The live-fire drills last from Monday to Friday and focus on joint air-sea combat operations, anti-landing operations and joint anti-airborne combat operations, with drones operated by civilian companies joining in surveillance missions, the Taipei Times newspaper reported Monday.

Taiwan's "defense ministry" said that the exercise is based on the cross-Straits military situation rather than a scripted future scenario as in previous years.

The purpose of the drills is to master asymmetric warfare, when the military power of participants differs significantly, the Taipei-based news website chinatimes.com reported on April 24.

This year's exercise takes aim at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to such an extent that will only make the cross-Straits relationship deteriorate further, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times.

"No matter how hard Taiwan's army tries, their effort will only be wasted if they stand against the PLA," said Song, citing the strong military power of the PLA in comparison with Taiwan's.

The PLA Air Force's H-6K strategic bomber conducted a nighttime island encirclement patrol around Taiwan island on May 25.

"The patrol aimed at improving China's ability to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, with similar training planned in the future," defense ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said at a routine press conference on Thursday when asked whether the island encirclement patrol was directed against the Han Kuang military exercise.

Taiwan should give up on its fantasy that the US or Japan will come to its aid. They must turn back to the right track of firmly adhering to the 1992 Consensus and the one-China policy, as "Taiwan independence" is a road with no return, Song warned.

"Taiwan independence" has not won much support within Taiwan either, Song said.

"Should a military conflict break out with the PLA, Taiwan's soldiers might question who they should fight for… Therefore it is important for the PLA to pose military deterrence to the Taiwan authorities as much as possible."

Remains of a Taiwan F-16 fighter jet were found on Monday afternoon after it went missing earlier that day during routine training. The pilot remained missing as of press time, chinatimes.com reported.

 

Related News

back