China announces more military maneuvers near Taiwan
March 15, 1996
Web posted at: 12:15 p.m. ESTBEIJING, China (CNN) -- China ended eight days of missile tests off the coast of Taiwan Friday, and immediately announced a new series of military exercises even closer to islands controlled by Taiwan.
The new exercises will consist of ground, naval and air maneuvers in the Strait of Taiwan from March 18-25 -- meaning the exercises will be going on during Taiwan's first direct presidential elections on March 23.
China also began live-fire military war games in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, planning to continue them until March 20.
Chinese television, calling the missile tests a success, aired videotape of missile launches on Friday. (536K QuickTime Movie)
In Washington, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said the United States considers it significant that the missile tests ended earlier than expected.
"We hope this will lead to an easing of tensions," he said. But the fact that China has extended its military exercises until after Taiwan's election is "not coincidental," he said.
China has repeatedly said its military maneuvers and missile tests are no threat to Taiwan or neighboring countries. But Chinese government officials have acknowledged that the exercises are intended to dampen a push, within Taiwan, for independence from China.
And a joint editorial, to be published Saturday by China's Army Daily the Communist Party's People's Daily, warned Taiwan "not to risk danger in desperation and act against the trend of the times."
"We should never allow one single inch of land to be split off our motherland's territory," the editorial said.
The editorial also warned "some foreign 'meddlers" -- an apparent reference to the United States, which has sent Navy ships into the area -- "not to interfere in China's internal affairs."
China considers Taiwan a renegade province, to be recaptured by force if necessary. It accuses Taiwan President Lee Teng- hui, expected to win next week's elections, of discarding the goal of reunification. Lee has denied that he wants Taiwan to be independent.
Lee is a member of the Nationalist Party, which fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists on the mainland. The Nationalist government in Taipei also considers Taiwan to be a province of China, but claims it -- not the government in Beijing -- is the legitimate one.
The exercises that begin Monday will take place 11 miles north of Taiwan's Wuchiu island, a closed military island, and 11 miles south of islets in the Matsu cluster. The Taiwan military, on heightened alert since last week, practiced repelling an invasion in one of Matsu's harbors. That training session was accompanied by a civilian air raid drill.
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