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Taiwan will closely monitor Chinese live-fire exercises scheduled across several seas from Oct. 12-20, Defense Minister Wellington Koo said Monday, as Taipei remains alert to Beijing’s growing military activity around the island.
Chinese maritime authorities announced drills in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea, with the exercises taking place in waters near China’s coast.
“Keeping with the principle of preparing for the worst, we will continue to closely monitor all of their activities, whether they involve firing or other military training,” Koo told reporters.
He criticized what he described as the People’s Liberation Army’s constant military exercises, saying they were creating unease across the Indo-Pacific region and deserved “close attention and condemnation.”
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets, warships and coast guard vessels around Taiwan and conducts military exercises in the area.
Taiwan, meanwhile, is investing billions of dollars in strengthening its defense capabilities.
President Lai Ching-te said Saturday that the buildup was intended to “deter war,” rather than start one.
Lai’s government has earmarked a record NT$1.1 trillion ($34.5 billion) for defense spending in 2027, accounting for more than 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office accused Lai of “stoking confrontation across the Taiwan Strait.”
Lai has previously said peace across the Taiwan Strait can only be protected through strength and that Taiwan must never yield territory.
Marking the 68th anniversary of a major 1958 battle with Chinese forces, Lai laid a wreath and bowed at a memorial park on Kinmen, a Taiwan-controlled island close to the Chinese coast.
The ceremony commemorated the start of the second Taiwan Strait crisis, the last large-scale battle between Taiwanese and Chinese forces.
Speaking to veterans, Lai thanked those who “stood united and fought a bloody battle to repel Communist totalitarian aggression.”
“Our resolve to unite in defending national sovereignty and safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait must never waver,” Lai said. “Peace has never simply fallen from the sky.”
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