{"id":42300,"date":"2019-05-22T19:41:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T19:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/22\/taiwan-holds-naval-exercises-amid-rising-tensions-with-beijing\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:10:30","slug":"taiwan-holds-naval-exercises-amid-rising-tensions-with-beijing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/05\/22\/taiwan-holds-naval-exercises-amid-rising-tensions-with-beijing\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan holds naval exercises amid rising tensions with Beijing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HUALIEN, Taiwan \u2014 Taiwan\u2019s navy held a major live-fire exercise Wednesday off the island\u2019s east coast in an area increasingly threatened by Chinese ships and planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drills are part of annual Han Kuang exercises<\/a> that simulate an attack by China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navy craft fired cannons and missiles and released depth charges, while fighter jets launched munitions and anti-submarine warfare aircraft released buoys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Submarines, along with a vast array of ballistic missiles, are considered among China’s most potent weapons against Taiwan, which split from the mainland during a civil war in 1949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Taiwanese Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate launches an ASROC (anti-submarine rocket) during drills off the coast of Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, on Wednesday. (Chiang Ying-ying\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

China has boosted its military threat against Taiwan, with President Xi Jinping<\/a> saying this year that Beijing would not rule out using force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That comes on top of growing Chinese pressure to isolate Taiwan in the international community and inflict economic pain, largely to force independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen<\/a> to agree to Beijing\u2019s contention that Taiwan is a part of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepped-up Chinese operations have included sending ships to nearby waters and warplanes to circle the island on what Beijing calls training missions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While China would need to send thousands of troops across the Taiwan Strait to effect an invasion, Beijing military planners are also believed to be considering a form of lightning strike that could quickly devastate the island\u2019s ability to resist and force it to capitulate before its chief ally, the United States, could come to its aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\t