Taiwan Fears China May Seize Islet To Force It To The Table, Plans Live-Fire Drills

Taiwan is all set to conduct a series of live-fire drills at several islets under its administration following concerns that Chinese forces may seize one of its islets.

Taiwanese fear that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) may use this tactic to force the self-ruled island to the table for reunification talks, reported South China Morning Post.

The drills will be conducted next month at several islets, including the two that are close to the Chinese mainland. The exercise is aimed at testing the combat readiness of its forces there.

The report added that Taiwanese forces have alerted ships and planes ahead of the drill. Taiwan’s artillery, missile and other troops that are stationed in the islets of Dongying, Quemoy and Penghu will stage the exercises on March 16 and 17.

The drills will run in the morning and at night and simulate scenarios wherein warplanes and amphibious landing craft attack the islets. While Dongying and Quemoy are frontline islets and are closer to China, Penghu is midway between the Chinese province of Fujian and the Taiwanese city of Chiayi.

Taiwan has also made extensive preparation for the drill, which includes deploying missiles to the islets. Homegrown Tien Kung surface-to-air ballistic missiles, Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles and Wan Chien air-to-ground subsonic cruise missiles have been deployed besides powerful cannons. A batch of Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the U.S. will be deployed on Penghu.

The Taiwanese coastguard will also conduct an annual live-fire drill on March 26 and 31 at the Pratas Islands, a strategic island that lies 450km (280 miles) southwest of the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung.

The Kestrel rockets are likely to be used by the coastguard during the drill. These rockets can repel amphibious landing craft and any assault by sea.

According to experts, the Pratas witness regular incursions by PLA warplanes and is believed to be the center of the next Taiwan Strait crisis.

Military watchers claim China could conveniently take control of the Pratas Islands and the move could benefit it as militarizing the island could be a first step toward dominating the entire South China Sea.

Taiwanese commentator Arthur Chi told South China Morning Post that the Pratas was strategically more important than Taiwan’s other defense outposts, given its access to the Taiwan Strait, Bashi Channel, the mainland-controlled Paracel Islands and the South China Sea.

"If the Chinese communists plan to attack Taiwan, they are likely to first take control of Dongsha before launching an all-out strike against Penghu and Taiwan proper," he said. Chi added that Beijing could use a move on the islet to intimidate Taiwan into agreeing to negotiate.