The frequent high-intensity drills conducted by the Chinese military around Taiwan by air, land, sea, and missile forces are raising concerns in the island about whether its military would have sufficient time to respond to a potential Chinese attack.
These drills by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are gradually narrowing the beleaguered island’s strategic space through a “salami-slicing” approach, according to a report.
Apprehensions are mounting that these high-profile drills may escalate into an attack with Taiwan having no time to respond. China claims the island as part of its mainland, asserting that it will take over it through peaceful means or otherwise.
Early this month, China held two-day large-scale military drills around Taiwan, which the PLA said tested its integrated joint operation capabilities and focused on blockade enforcement of the estranged island.
It was the sixth large-scale exercise conducted by the PLA since August 2022.
Besides concerns over a real attack, there is a growing concern over whether the Taiwanese military would be able to respond quickly enough as the PLA continues its strategy of gradually eroding buffer zones, the Hong Kong-based South China Post quoted military officials from Taipei as saying.
One former Taiwanese Air Force commander warned that if the Chinese warplanes could reach Taipei within three minutes of crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which separates China and Taiwan, it would be too quick for the island’s air force to respond.
“The scale and complexity of these drills suggest that the PLA is building an operational familiarity with an attack scenario,” Arthur Chi, a military analyst at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research, a government think tank said.
“Through these exercises, the PLA is also testing how Taiwan military responds using it as a reference for future combat planning,” Chi said.
Analysts agreed that Beijing’s incremental encroachment tactics – commonly referred to as “salami slicing” – were blurring the line between routine drills and acts of aggression, the report said.
“Salami slicing” is the most frequently aired concern along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) dividing India and China where the Chinese military is accused of gradual encroachment of disputed territories.
In Taiwan, each exercise expanded the PLA’s operational footprint, eroding long-standing norms such as the median line and testing the island’s responses, the analysts said.
Chi said the PLA’s gradual encroachment into Taiwan’s air and sea defence spaces was even more concerning.
Taiwan’s defence ministry earlier confirmed that some PLA warplanes and ships came close to the island’s contiguous zone, which extends 44.4km from the coast.
“Each step appears minor in isolation but contributes to a broader erosion of Taiwan’s strategic space,” Chi said.
Taiwan officials have been asserting that China is finalising plans to attack the island in 2027 but strategic analysts aver that Russia’s attack on Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s open assertions to take over Greenland island near Denmark and seize control over Panama Canal may embolden Beijing to advance its military plans.
