Latest news with #YimouLee
RNZ News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Taiwan launches biggest war drills with simulated attacks against military command
By Yimou Lee , Reuters Taiwanese reservists participate in pre-combat training on the first day of the annual Han Kuang military exercise in Miaoli on July 9, 2025. Photo: AFP / I-HWA CHENG Taiwan launched its largest ever military drills on Wednesday, starting with simulated attacks on its command systems and infrastructure ahead of a Chinese invasion, senior defence officials said. The early stages of the annual Han Kuang exercises will focus on testing how Taiwan's military can decentralise command in the event of a crippling communications attack. Over the next 10 days, the drills will expand to assess Taiwan's combat readiness against a full-scale attempt to seize the island. "We are learning from the situation in Ukraine in recent years and realistically thinking about what Taiwan might face ... in real combat," said one senior defence official, highlighting the need to protect command and communication systems. "Commanders have to think what issues their troops might face and they need to pass them down to their subordinates," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation. Cyber attacks and misinformation campaigns are seen by Taiwan as high-intensity "grey zone" actions that are likely to precede a broader Chinese assault. The annual Han Kuang exercises will this year mobilise the largest number of reservists, some 22,000, and for the first time feature new High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, made by Lockheed Martin, along with Taiwan-developed Sky Sword surface-to-air missiles. Some 300 reserve troops were seen moving into classrooms of a junior high school in the city of Taoyuan emptied for summer holidays, receiving instruction in mortars and rifles. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has intensified military pressure around the island over the last five years, including a string of war games and daily patrols. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control, and any attack on Taiwan could ignite a broader regional war. Taiwanese defence officials said they believed that the Chinese military would be closely monitoring the drills. By 6am, Taiwan had detected 31 Chinese aircraft sorties and seven naval ships, the defence ministry said in a statement. Some 24 of the aircraft crossed the median line, the unofficial barrier between the two sides. China's Ministry of Commerce added eight Taiwan firms to its export control list, banning exports of dual-use products, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday. The list includes the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC). As they evolve, the drills will feature 24-hour army, naval and air operations to defend Taiwan's coasts. Civil defence elements will also be tested, including the creation of emergency supply stations as well as the use of Taiwan's recently-expanded air-raid shelters. Asked about the drills and Taiwan's use of US-supplied HIMARS, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing on Wednesday that "our opposition to US-Taiwan military ties is consistent and very firm". Taiwan's "attempt to seek independence through force or relying on foreign (actors) will never succeed," Mao said. China's defence ministry said on Tuesday that Taiwan's Han Kuang military exercises were "nothing but a bluff". "No matter what weapons are used, Taiwan can't resist the People's Liberation Army's sharp sword against independence," ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin was quoted as saying by state broadcaster CCTV. The Taiwanese senior defence official said they wanted to show the international community that Taiwan was determined to defend itself. Regional military attaches and analysts say the drills are being closely watched, both for China's response and to gauge improvements in Taiwanese resilience. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te and his government strongly object to China's sovereignty claims, saying it is up to the island's people to decide their future. - Reuters
Japan Today
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Taiwan launches annual war games with simulated attacks against military command
By Yimou Lee Taiwan launches its largest ever military drills on Wednesday, starting with simulated attacks on its command systems and infrastructure ahead of a Chinese invasion, senior defense officials said. The early stages of the annual Han Kuang exercises will focus on testing how Taiwan's military can decentralize command in the event of a crippling communications attack. Over the next 10 days, the drills will expand to assess Taiwan's combat readiness against a full-scale attempt to seize the island. "We are learning from the situation in Ukraine in recent years and realistically thinking about what Taiwan might face ... in real combat," said one senior defense official, highlighting the need to protect command and communication systems. "Commanders have to think what issues their troops might face and they need to pass them down to their subordinates," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the operation. Cyber attacks and misinformation campaigns are seen by Taiwan as high-intensity "grey zone" actions that are likely to precede a broader Chinese assault. The annual Han Kuang exercises will this year mobilize the largest number of reservists, some 22,000, and for the first time feature New High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, made by Lockheed Martin, along with Taiwan-developed Sky Sword surface-to-air missiles. Some 300 reserve troops were seen moving into classrooms of a junior high school in the city of Taoyuan emptied for summer holidays, receiving instruction in mortars and rifles. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has intensified military pressure around the island over the last five years, including a string of war games and daily patrols. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control, and any attack on Taiwan could ignite a broader regional war. Taiwanese defense officials said they believed that the Chinese military would be closely monitoring the drills. By 6 a.m. Taiwan had detected 31 Chinese aircraft sorties and seven naval ships, the defense ministry said in a statement. Some 24 of the aircraft crossed the median line, the unofficial barrier between the two sides. China's Ministry of Commerce added eight Taiwan firms to its export control list, banning exports of dual use products, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday. The list includes the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC). As they evolve, the drills will feature 24-hour operations army, naval and air operations to defend Taiwan coasts. Civil defense elements will also be tested, including the creation of emergency supply stations as well as the use of Taiwan's recently-expanded air-raid shelters. China's defense ministry said on Tuesday that Taiwan's Han Kuang military exercises were "nothing but a bluff". "No matter what weapons are used, Taiwan can't resist the People's Liberation Army's sharp sword against independence," ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin was quoted as saying by state broadcaster CCTV. The Taiwanese senior defense official said they wanted to show China that they faced an unpredictable foe and that any invasion scenario was growing more complex, while showing the international community that Taiwan was determined to defend itself. Regional military attaches and analysts say the drills are being closely watched, both for China's response and to gauge improvements in Taiwanese resilience. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te and his government strongly object to China's sovereignty claims, saying it is up to the island's people to decide their future. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taking lessons from Ukraine, Taiwan eyes sea drones to counter China
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard WUSHI, Taiwan (Reuters) -Just off the small Taiwan fishing port of Wushi on its Pacific coast, a Taiwanese company is testing what could eventually be a powerful but unglamorous new weapon in the island's military arsenal - sea drones. Used to great effect by Ukraine in the Black Sea against Russia, Taiwan is learning lessons on how it could use sea drones as an effective and low-cost way to fend off any possible Chinese invasion. These drones are uncrewed, remotely controlled small vessels that are packed with explosives and can be guided toward ships or potentially even attack targets in the air. Pushed by the United States, Taiwan has been working to transform its armed forces to be able to wage "asymmetric warfare", using mobile, smaller and often cheaper weapons which still pack a targeted punch, like sea drones. "Uncrewed boats or vehicles have played a very significant role in the Ukraine war," Chen Kuan-ting, a lawmaker for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who sits on parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, told Reuters. "Uncrewed vehicles, whether they are boats or underwater vehicles, can effectively deter China because Taiwan is not the attacking side, we are the defending side," he said. Taiwan's defence ministry's research and development arm, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, has termed the sea drone plan the "Swift and Sudden" project, which so far has a modest budget of around T$800 million ($26.77 million). Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday sea drones would be included in an additional spending package to be unveiled later this year. Details of that special budget have yet to be announced. William Chen, chairman of the Thunder Tiger company, told Reuters last week on a boat off Wushi while viewing a test of their SeaShark 800 sea drone, which can carry 1,200 kg (2,600 lbs) of explosives and travel up to 500 km (310 miles), that these new weapons present an element of surprise for China. "We can create uncertainty. We can fill the Taiwan Strait with danger and risks. No one knows where these dangers could surface," Chen added. SEA DRONE SHOW Next week, Thunder Tiger will be among 12 Taiwanese and foreign companies joining an exhibition just down the coast from Wushi arranged by the defence ministry to showcase unmanned surface vehicles that may end up being added to Taiwan's arsenal. Other companies taking part, according to the ministry, include Taiwan navy contractor Lungteh Shipbuilding and U.S. military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries. "Drones is a top priority for both the United States and Taiwan. Obviously the conflict in Ukraine is focusing minds on what the next generation of warfare will look like," said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, who is leading a U.S. defence industry delegation to Taiwan this week, including drone makers. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up its military pressure over the past five years, including staging half a dozen rounds of war games. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has been studying how Ukraine has deployed drones to successfully offset Russia's advantage on the battlefield and has enlisted commercial drone companies, including Thunder Tiger, to help. Ukraine has deployed sea drones not only to attack ships in Russia's Black Sea fleet, but also to shoot down aircraft. Taiwan's navy is dwarfed by that of China with its aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines, though the country lacks recent combat experience. China's last successful large-scale amphibious assault was in 1950 when it seized Hainan island at the tail end of the Chinese civil war, with troops ferried across on junks. Peter Chen, a drone expert and executive director of Taiwan security think tank TTRDA, said Taiwan can undoubtedly make world-class sea drones. "But when it comes to the application, how to turn them into top-notch weapons, it is not the responsibility of private companies. The views of government and the military on how to properly integrate the weapons into the battle strategy, that needs more thinking," he said.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
We will never forget Tiananmen crackdown, Taiwan and US say on 36th anniversary
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI (Reuters) -The world will never forget China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Taiwan's president and the top U.S. diplomat said on the 36th anniversary of an event Beijing treats as taboo and allows no public remembrance. The events on and around the central Beijing square on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end the student-led pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked. Public commemorations take place in overseas cities including Taipei where senior Taiwan government leaders often use the anniversary to criticise China and urge it to face up to what it did. Lai, in a post on Facebook on Wednesday, praised the courage of those who took part in the protests, saying human rights are a concept shared by Taiwan and other democracies that transcend generations and borders. "The commemoration of the June 4 Tiananmen incident is not only to mourn history, but also to perpetuate this memory," said Lai, who Beijing detests as a "separatist" and has rejected his repeated offers of talks. "Authoritarian governments often choose to silence and forget history, while democratic societies choose to preserve the truth and refuse to forget those who gave their lives - and their dreams - to the idea of human rights," he added. "Not only do we refuse to forget history, we will implement our core values every day." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday praised the courage of the Chinese people who were killed in the bloody crackdown. "Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989," Rubio said in a statement. "The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget," he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. SECURITY TIGHT IN HONG KONG Before dawn on June 4, 1989, Chinese tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, crushing weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers. China has never provided a full death toll, but rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into thousands. China blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the ruling Communist Party. The Tiananmen Mothers, which represents relatives of those killed, put out this week their annual statement calling for a public accounting of what happened. "The executioners of that year have passed away one after another, but as the continuation of the ruling party, the current government has a responsibility to respond to and address the Tiananmen Massacre," Zhang Xianling, whose son Wang Nan was killed, said in a video message. In Hong Kong, where thousands used to gather to mark the anniversary before China's imposition of a national security law in 2020, security was tight around Victoria Park, the site of the previous mass candlelight vigils. Hong Kong's leader John Lee said on Tuesday police would take stringent enforcement actions against any acts endangering national security. A performance artist was forced to leave the vicinity of the park and a shop selling small white candles was raided by customs officials on Tuesday. One jailed pro-democracy activist, Chow Hang-tung, is staging a 36 hour hunger strike in prison to mark the anniversary.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China flexes military muscle with East Asian naval activity, sources say
By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard (Reuters) -China has flexed its muscles this month by sending an unusually large number of naval and coast guard vessels through a swathe of East Asian waters, according to security documents and officials, in moves that have unnerved regional capitals. Since early May, China deployed fleets larger than usual, including navy, coast guard and other ships near Taiwan, the southern Japanese islands and the East and South China Seas, according to three regional security officials and documents of regional military activities reviewed by Reuters. On May 21 and May 27, for instance, China deployed nearly 60 and more than 70 ships, respectively, around three-quarters of them naval, the documents show. These included guided-missile frigates, destroyers and coast guard boats. Beijing also dispatched two aircraft carrier groups, with the Shandong now in the busy waterway of the South China Sea and the Liaoning off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the documents show. "They are exerting pressure on the whole of the first island chain amid global geopolitical uncertainties," said one security official. The reference is to waters stretching from Japan through Taiwan, the Philippines and on to Borneo, enclosing the seas around China's coast. "They are trying to reinforce their dominance," the source said, adding that drills this month by the Liaoning, the oldest of China's three aircraft carriers, simulated attacks on foreign ships and aircraft around the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. There was an "obvious" stepped-up Chinese naval presence this month, added a second source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as did the first, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence assessment. "China clearly wants to show these are its home waters and it can operate when and where it wants," the source said. China's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment. LIVE FIRE DRILLS Over the past two weeks China declared several live-fire drill areas off its coast, including last week one directly facing southwestern Taiwan. Last Wednesday, Chinese state television showed images of amphibious drills in the southern province of Fujian, across the strait from Taiwan, but did not give an exact location. This week, Japan has been tracking the Liaoning and its accompanying warships through the southern Japanese islands and into the Western Pacific. China seems to be trying to improve its capacity to operate far from the Chinese coast, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said. "The Japanese government intends to keep a close eye on relevant movement and do its utmost in carrying out monitoring and surveillance activities," he told reporters on Wednesday. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the ships' activities were in line with international law and practice and Japan should "look at them objectively and rationally". China has kept up its stand-off with the Philippines in the South China Sea, where its foreign ministry on Friday urged the Philippines to immediately stop "infringement and provocation". The Philippine Navy's spokesperson on South China Sea issues, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, told Reuters that China's "illegal presence" in the maritime zones of Southeast Asian states "has been disturbing the peace in the region and is contrary to pronouncements of its 'peaceful rise'." The spike in Chinese military activity has also come as Taiwan President Lai Ching-te marked the anniversary this month of a year in office. China has staged three major rounds of war games since the inauguration of Lai, whom it calls a "separatist". On Wednesday, Taiwan's defence ministry said the Liaoning was off the island's southeast coast, adding that Taiwan would raise its combat preparedness in line with the threat level.
