PLA Holds Intensive Drills Prior to Tsai's Planned Meeting with McCarthy

By Liu Xuanzun

Apr 02, 2023 07:13 PM

Fighter jets attached to an aviation brigade of the air force under the PLA Southern Theater Command receive pre-flight inspections before taking off during a day-and-night flight training exercise on March 11, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Hao Hunan)

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces close to the island of Taiwan recently held intensive maritime and air exercises and commissioned new weapons and equipment prior to Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen's planned meeting with US house speaker McCarthy in the US later this week.

At sea, a flotilla consisting of the Type 054A frigate Xiangtan, the Type 052D destroyer Taiyuan and the Sovremenny-class destroyer Taizhou attached to the PLA Eastern Theater Command Navy recently carried out a realistic combat-oriented exercise in the East China Sea, the PLA Eastern Theater Command said in a press release on Sunday.

During the joint exercise, the flotilla practiced more than a dozen training subjects including anti-submarine, anti-ship, live-fire shooting and joint maritime search and rescue, which boosted the sailors' decision-making and coordination capabilities.

In the air, Su-30 and J-10 fighter jets attached to an aviation force under the PLA Eastern Theater Command recently carried out a confrontational air combat drill at midnight, according to another press release the PLA Eastern Theater Command published on Saturday.

The air drill, focusing on regional air defense, air assault under cover and air superiority seizing, enhanced the pilots' all-weather, round-the-clock combat capabilities.

In the meantime, armed forces on the island of Taiwan detected increased PLA aircraft and vessel activities around the island over the past few days, including 18 PLA aircraft and four PLA vessels on Saturday and 10 PLA aircraft and three PLA vessels on Sunday, with many of them crossing the non-existent "median line" of the Taiwan Straits, according to press releases issued by the defense authority on the island.

On the land, a combined arms brigade of the PLA 73rd Group Army based in the eastern part of South China's Guangdong Province recently received delivery of a large number of Type 08 wheeled armored vehicles, which is a main equipment to be used in rapid-reaction combat including rapid deployment and mobilized assault missions, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Sunday.

The intensive PLA drills and weaponry commissioning came at a time when Tsai is on her trip to Guatemala and Belize, transiting the US in the process. She is reportedly scheduled to meet McCarthy during her return transit in the US later this week.

Fu Qianshao, a Chinese mainland military expert, told the Global Times that if Tsai does meet McCarthy, the PLA will resolutely respond similarly to when then US house speaker Nancy Pelosi provocatively visited the island of Taiwan in August 2022.

Large-scale drills and combat patrols around the island of Taiwan are among possible measures, Fu said.

The PLA likely has a series of contingency plans corresponding to what Tsai could say and do, and its countermeasures will be resolute in deterring "Taiwan independence" and foreign interference forces, another Chinese mainland expert told the Global Times on Sunday, requesting anonymity.

The PLA is ready at all time to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the expert said.