Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

China plans massive war games near Taiwan isle
Drill aimed at 'taking control' of the strait

BEIJING - China was gearing up yesterday for large-scale military war games aimed at 'taking control of the Taiwan Strait', with 18,000 troops and the amphibious landing of a tank brigade, state press reported.

'It is necessary and rational for China to hold military exercises for the sake of national defence,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told journalists at a regular briefing yesterday.

The exercises were to take place this month and next month on Dongshan island in south-eastern Fujian province just 150 nautical miles west of Taiwan's Penghu island, the New Express Daily said.

The report referred to the exercises as the first-ever aimed at 'striving to control the Taiwan Strait'.

The 18,000 soldiers will be deployed from the land, navy and air force of the Nanjing Military Region, where some 500 short-range ballistic missiles are pointed at Taiwan.

'Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets will be outfitted with KN59M guided air-to-surface missiles in an effort to maintain control over the Taiwan Strait and ensure that tank brigades can make a landing and engage in warfare,' the report said.

Submarines, warships and a guided-missile brigade would also be involved in the exercises, which were to be led by Lieutenant-General Huang Jiang, it said.

Soldiers were deployed on Dongshan island in the middle of last month where tanks and armoured personnel carriers had been practising amphibious landings daily on Jinluan beach.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry yesterday said it had not discovered any signs of military exercises by China.

'As of now, there were no signs detected showing that Chinese communist troops are going to hold a military exercise on Dongshan island,' Defence Ministry spokesman Huang Suey-sheng told reporters.

He said Taipei would keep a close eye on any military movements near Taiwan.

Western diplomats in Beijing played down the drills, saying the number of troops involved was not that large and that the exercises appeared to be routine.

Meanwhile, a report in Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News said China's People's Liberation Army has required its local militias to be 'operationally prepared for war at any time' by adding this very phrase to their pledge.

Observers say that is the latest of a series of moves by Beijing to 'achieve reunification by non-peaceful means', the report added. -- AFP



http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,254015,00.html