TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan will fight to the end if China attacks, the Secretary of State said Wednesday, adding that the United States saw a danger that this could happen amid increasing Chinese military pressure, including aircraft carrier exercises. , near the island.
China-claimed Taiwan has complained in recent months about repeated military activities by Beijing, with the Chinese air force making almost daily forays into the air defense identification zone in Taiwan. On Monday, China said a group of aircraft carriers were training close to the island.
“From my limited understanding of US decision-makers following developments in this region, they clearly see the danger of the possibility of China launching an attack on Taiwan,” Joseph Wu told reporters at his ministry.
“We are ready to defend ourselves without question and we will go to war if we have to go to war. And if we have to defend ourselves to the last day, we will defend ourselves to the very last day. “
Washington, Taiwan’s main international financier and arms supplier, has pushed Taipei to modernize its military so that it can become a “porcupine” difficult for China to attack.
Wu said they were determined to improve their military capabilities and spend more on defense.
“The defense of Taiwan is our responsibility. We will make every effort to improve our defenses. “
The Taiwan Ministry of Defense said at a separate event this month that it will be holding eight days of computer-aided war games of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, which marks the first phase of Taiwan’s largest annual war games, the Han Kuang exercises.
A second phase, including live fire drills, will take place in July.
“The exercises are designed against the most severe enemy threats and simulate all possible scenarios of an enemy invasion of Taiwan,” Major General Liu Yu-Ping told reporters.
The second phase of the war games in Taiwan would involve mobilizing some 8,000 reservists to join live fire, anti-landing drills and hospitals conducting drills to deal with the influx of heavy casualties.
Asked whether Washington’s de facto embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan, would send representatives to the exercises, Liu said such a plan “was discussed” but “will not be implemented,” citing military sensitivity.
Taiwan has not said where the Chinese carrier group is currently located, or whether it will go next to the disputed South China Sea, where a US carrier group currently operates.
Deputy Defense Minister Chang Che-ping said in parliament that the movements of the Chinese courier were closely monitored and described the exercises as routine.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore