Taipei, April 25 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) broke silence and warned on Tuesday that mainland China has stepped up military training along its southeastern coast opposite Taiwan.
"The ministry has detected that mainland China's air force is intensifying combat training and its navy has also launched training programs in waters off its southeastern province of Zhejiang and from there to the disputed Tiaoyutai islands," MND spokesman Gen. Kung Fan-ding told a routine press conference.
Judging from those activities, Kung said, the MND does not rule out the possibility of mainland China launching military exercises, even live-fire war games, either before or after the inauguration of the Republic of China's new president on May 20.
Kung said many types of mainland warplanes, including H-6 bombers and attack planes, have joined specially designed long-distance, trans-military regions training activities.
Military sources said H-6 bombers are usually deployed in mainland China's inland military regions. Their participation in military training in its frontline Nanjing military region close to Taiwan indicates that those training programs are very likely aimed at threatening Taiwan.
Tension across the Taiwan Strait has been running high since Chen Shui-bian of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won the March 18 presidential election. Beijing has been pressuring Chen to embrace its "one China" policy which downgrades the ROC to a province of the PRC. Chen has resisted Beijing's demand, insisting that "one China" could be the agenda of bilateral dialogue but not a premise. (By Sofia Wu)
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