Chinese wrap drills around Taiwan
USNI News
Chinese wrap drills around Taiwan, PLA officials vow to never stop fighting Taiwan’s independence
By Dzirhan Mahadzir
13 December 2024
JSDF Image
Chinese forces have ended several days of drills that surrounded Taiwan with military ships and aircraft starting on Monday.
Japan on Thursday tracked six People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships returning to the East China Sea via the Miyako Strait – a 155-mile-wide passageway between Okinawa and Miyako Island.
On Thursday, Japan’s Joint Staff Office (JSO) issued a release stating that at midnight that day, PLAN frigate CNS Liaocheng (608) was sighted sailing northwest in an area 68 miles east of Miyako Island.
Subsequently, at 5 a.m., PLAN frigate CNS Xiaogan (615) was sighted sailing north in an area 55 miles northeast of Miyako Island. At 9 a.m., CNS Suzhou (132) and CNS Shaoxing (134) and frigates CNS Zhoushan (529) and CNS Xuzhou (530) were sighted sailing northwest in an area northeast of Miyako Island.
In all three instances, the PLAN ships then sailed northwest through the waters between Okinawa and Miyako Island to enter the East China Sea, according to the release. The release also noted that Suzhou, Shaoxing and Zhoushan sailed east through the Osumi Strait on Dec. 5 and Xuzhou sailed southeast through the waters between Okinawa and Miyako Island on Dec. 7.
Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) minesweeper JS Shishijima (MSC-691) and a JMSDF P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) of Fleet Air Wing 5 shadowed the PLAN ships, according to the release.
An earlier release on Wednesday stated that at 5 a.m. that day, PLAN frigate CNS Hebi (534) was sighted sailing northwest in an area 74 miles east of Miyako Island and subsequently sailed northwest in the waters between Okinawa Island and Miyako Island, and entered the East China Sea. The release stated JMSDF P-3C Orion of Fleet Air Wing 5 shadowed the frigate
In a Friday release, the JSO stated that at 9 a.m that day, PLAN Dongdiao-class surveillance ship Kaiyangxing (796) was sighted sailing southeast in an area 62 miles west of Kume Island and subsequently sailed southeast in the waters between Okinawa and Miyako Island to enter the Philippine Sea. A JMSDF P-3C Orion of Fleet Air Wing 5 shadowed the ship.
The PLAN ships sighted on Thursday likely are returning from drills conducted around Taiwan since Monday. China’s Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Snr. Col Wu Qian in a Friday press conference was asked about the drills but did not give a direct answer.
He stated that it is the PLA’s sacred mission to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity, safeguard the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation, and defend the shared interests of compatriots on both sides of the Strait.
Wu quoted Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, “As water has no constant form, there are in warfare no constant conditions.” He also vowed that whether there is military exercise or not, the PLA will never be absent in fighting Taiwan independence” and promoting national reunification.
“Any attempt to split the nation through soliciting external support or resorting to force will be punished, and will never succeed”, warned the PLA spokesperson.
The MND also posted a video on X condemning China’s drills. “The threat posed by #PLA to Taiwan and the region has escalated from coercion to directly affecting the First Island Chain, undermining the rules-based international order. ROC Armed Forces continue to forge our capabilities and deter war,” read the post.
The video included footage of some of the PLAN ships that Taiwan’s military and coast guard tracked and shadowed during the drills, showing destroyers CNS Kaifeng (124) and CNS Guilin (164) and frigates CNS Xiangtan (531), CNS CNS Huaihua (566) and CNS Xiangyang (567).
The MND also reported on Thursday that from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, 34 PLA aircraft and 16 PLAN ships operating around Taiwan were detected. Twenty-two of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, entering Taiwan’s northern, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
On Friday, the MND reported that from 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, 12 PLA aircraft, 14 PLAN ships and nine official ships operating around Taiwan and six of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern and southwestern ADIZ.
On Friday, the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet’s surface action group comprising corvettes RFS Gromkiy (335), RFS Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov (339) and RFS Rezkiy (343) and fleet oiler Pechenga returned to their home port of Vladivostok, wrapping up a deployment to the Asia Pacific that began on Oct. 5.
A Russian Navy Pacific Fleet release stated the ships had travelled more than 10,000 nautical miles, crossing seven seas and part of the Pacific Ocean during the deployment. The group docked into Qingdao in China on Dec. 5 to conduct its final port call. It left on Monday, the same day submarine RFS Ufa (B-588) and rescue tug Alatau arrived for their port visit. Ufa and Alatau departed the Chinese port on Thursday to head to Vladivostok.
Japan tracked the Russian surface action group as it headed through the Tsushima Strait.
A JSO release on Wednesday stated that on Tuesday at 8 p.m., the four Russian ships had been sighted sailing northeast in an area 80 miles southwest of Tsushima and from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Russian ships sailed northeast through the Tsushima Strait to enter the Sea of Japan.
Fast attack craft JS Otaka (PG-826) and a JMSDF P-1 MPA of Fleet Air Wing 4 based at Naval Air Facility Atsugi on the main island of Honshu shadowed the Russian ships.