Mainland to closely monitor Taiwanese exercises

Island’s military warned against ‘any provocations’ during live-fire drills

Beijing has said it will closely monitor live-fire drills by the Taiwanese military for signs of “provocations” amid heightened cross-strait tensions.

Taiwan is planning a series of offshore live-fire military drills throughout April around its offshore islets, including Quemoy, a Taiwanese-held outpost also known as Kinmen, which is a short distance from the mainland city of Xiamen.

Yesterday, Chen Binhua, a spokesman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Beijing was closely monitoring the movements of the Taiwanese army, and warned that “any provocations” or “rash” actions were doomed to fail.

“Whether it is ‘routine’ training or a ‘targeted’ provocation, the DPP authorities know better than anyone in their hearts,” Chen told a press briefing, referring to the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

He said people on Quemoy had grown up cherishing peace and had made the right choice between “firing guns” and “building bridges”.

Earlier this month, Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency issued a notice that the army’s Kinmen Defence Command would stage artillery exercises to bolster combat readiness around Quemoy.

The drills are scheduled to take place over about 20 days between April 2 and April 30. Those include parts of Quemoy, and its tiny outlying islets of Houyu, Fuyun, Fuxing, Shiyu, Muyu and Lieyu.

The Taiwanese military has said that the drills are routine exercises and have no specific target, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.

Last month two fishermen from the mainland died when their boat capsized following a chase by Taiwanese coastguards – an incident that saw the two sides trading accusations over who was to blame.

The Taiwanese authorities have argued that the fishing boat had illegally entered its “prohibited or restricted waters”. Beijing denied the waters were restricted, and accused the Taiwanese coastguards of using “violent and dangerous methods” in their pursuit.

Since then, the mainland coastguard has been carrying out regular patrols around Quemoy, while Taiwan has sent patrol vessels to warn off the mainland ships when they enter the waters off Quemoy and Matsu, another outpost controlled by Taipei off the coast of Fujian.

The death of the two fishermen caused a further spike in tensions that were already running high following the election victory in January of the DPP’s candidate William Lai Ching-te – whom Beijing regards as a hardcore separatist and “troublemaker”.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China that must eventually be reunited with the mainland – by force if necessary.