China Tested Missiles During Latest Military Drills, Taiwan Says

(Bloomberg) - China tested missiles on inland targets during its latest military drills around Taiwan, according to a Taiwanese national security official, underscoring the intensity of the exercises.

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The People's Liberation Army fired two ballistic missiles at targets inside China, according to the official, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive issue. China sent missiles directly over the main island of Taiwan during drills in summer 2022 after then House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.

Chinese armed forces have been refining their strategies with each drill, the official said, adding they were getting more precise and simulating actual combat conditions. The official stressed that war with China is neither imminent nor inevitable.

On Monday, Beijing ordered its second major military drills since Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office in May. The PLA said the exercises were intended as a warning against "separatism" and came after a speech in which Lai said neither side of the roughly 160 kilometer (100 mile) strait was subordinate to the other.

China sent a record number of warplanes across a key US-drawn line separating the sides, and for the first time used its Coast Guard in patrols around the island. China's Coast Guard is ultimately controlled by the nation's military authorities.

The PLA later indicated it would ramp up military pressure on Lai's government whenever it is "provoked." Beijing deeply distrusts Lai, view him as pushing to formalize Taiwan's independence.

Taiwan condemned the drills, saying they undermined peace and stability in the region. Both the US and Japan also voiced their concern to Beijing about the exercises.

China has pledged to bring Taiwan under its control someday, by force if necessary. The US has long been vague about its intentions, a policy known as "strategic ambiguity," thought President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the US would defend Taiwan if China attacked.

Two Russian military vessels sailed through the Miyako Strait near southern Japan, the Taiwan national security official said, adding that the move may have been intended to deter Tokyo from getting involved in any conflict.

Japan said earlier it scrambled fighters near a southern island in response to China's latest maneuvers.

Separately, when a lawmaker asked Taiwan central bank governor Yang Chin-long Thursday about potential liquidity issues in the foreign exchange market if there was a war with China, he said the archipelago was "always prepared."

Markets were largely unaffected by the latest PLA exercises, as usual.

-With assistance from Jing Li.

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