Latest news with #EasternTheatreCommand
South China Morning Post
25-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
China's military identifies US and Japanese destroyers as ‘enemy vessels'
The People's Liberation Army has explicitly identified the US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and Japan's Atago-class destroyer as enemy targets in an information display for the navy's open day. Advertisement The unprecedented peacetime move coincided with the USS William P. Lawrence – an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer – transiting through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday. It was noticed by a visitor in Taizhou, Zhejiang province who was aboard a Nanjing Type 052D guided-missile destroyer – part of the PLA Navy's Eastern Theatre Command whose main role is to defend the Taiwan Strait. The visitor posted a photo of the display on social media that has since been widely circulated. 'The YJ-18A anti-ship missile is a new vertically launched, long-range cruise missile now deployed by the navy,' the display read. Advertisement 'It can strike large and medium-sized enemy surface vessels such as the US Arleigh Burke-class and Japan's Atago-class destroyers using supersonic trajectories, possessing a high penetration probability and accuracy, significantly enhancing the PLA Navy's maritime dominance capabilities.'
South China Morning Post
09-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Chinese defence stocks in play as Trump's tariffs erase DeepSeek-fuelled gains
Investors are taking cover in Chinese military stocks amid heightened tension between Beijing and Washington in the wake of the tit-for-tat trade war, as gains spurred by the DeepSeek trade have almost fizzled out. Advertisement Defence-equipment companies trading in Hong Kong and on the mainland are the latest hedge against the turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs. Among them, CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering surged 15 per cent to HK$9.52 in Hong Kong on Wednesday, extending an 8.3 per cent surge a day earlier, while AviChina Industry & Technology gained 6.4 per cent to HK$3.32. In Shenzhen, China Harzone Industry jumped 20 per cent to 8.28 yuan and Xian Triangle Defense advanced 11 per cent to 23.86 yuan. The resilience is in contrast to broader market volatility as the world's two largest economies show no signs of backing down from the latest tariff showdown. The Hang Seng Index briefly entered a bear market on Wednesday after a 20 per cent decline from a March high, reversing the gains in Chinese tech stocks sparked by the emergence of DeepSeek. 'The military industry is providing stability against the backdrop of turbulence in global markets,' said Shi Kang, an analyst at Industrial Securities. 'As global trade and the geopolitical landscape worsen, demand for weapons procurement will rise significantly.' A screenshot taken from a video titled 'Subdue Demons and Vanquish Evils' was released by the Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army on April 1. Photo: Eastern Theatre Command Defence stocks tend to historically outperform in times of turmoil, as seen during the US-China trade war during Trump's first term in 2018 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to the brokerage.
Observer
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Observer
China drills 'Strait Thunder' around Taiwan continue
BEIJING/TAIPEI: China's military began a second day of drills around Taiwan on Wednesday and for the first time gave them a code name, Strait Thunder-2025A, saying they were focused on honing the ability to blockade the island and make precision strikes. The exercises follow a rise in Chinese rhetoric against Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, who China called a "parasite" on Tuesday, and come on the heels of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth'sAsiavisit, during which he repeatedly criticised Beijing. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly denounced Lai as a "separatist". Lai, who won election and took office last year, rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. China's Eastern Theatre Command said the drills were taking place in the middle and southern areas of the Taiwan Strait. Some of Taiwan's outlying islands are just a few kilometres from China. "The exercises focus on subjects of identification and verification, warning and expulsion, and interception and detention so as to test the troops' capabilities of area regulation and control, joint blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets," it said in a statement. A senior Taiwan security official said there were more than 10 Chinese warships in Taiwan's "response zone" on Wednesday morning, and that China's coast guard was participating with "harassment" drills. China had not formally named Tuesday's drills. China called two rounds of major war games last year around the island Joint Sword-2024A and Joint Sword-2024B. The United States, Taiwan's most important international backer and main arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, condemned the exercises. "Once again, China's aggressive military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan only serve to exacerbate tensions and put the region's security and the world's prosperity at risk," the U.S. State Department said in a statement. Japan and the European Union also expressed concern. "The EU has a direct interest in the preservation of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. We oppose any unilateral actions that change the status quo by force or coercion," an EU spokesperson said. — Reuters
Al Jazeera
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘Live-fire drills': China conducts second day of war games around Taiwan
China's military said it has simulated attacks on high-value targets in Taiwan, including ports and energy facilities, as it carried out 'live-fire' military drills around the self-ruled island on the second day of war-game exercises. The drills on Wednesday, part of an operation titled 'Strait Thunder-2025A', were conducted in the middle and southern parts of the Taiwan Strait as well as the East China Sea, the military said. 'Long-range live-fire drills' were carried out in order to practise hitting 'simulated targets of key ports and energy facilities' during the exercises, the military said. The aim was to 'test the troops' capabilities' in areas such as 'blockade and control, and precision strikes on key targets', said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman of the Chinese military's Eastern Theatre Command. China's Shandong aircraft carrier was also deployed in the drills, testing the ability to 'blockade' Taiwan by integrating naval and air power, the Eastern Theatre Command said. China's military published a video of what it said were the live-fire drills that showed rockets, rather than ballistic missiles, being launched and hitting targets on land, and an animation of explosions over Taiwanese cities including Tainan, Hualien and Taichung, all home to military bases and ports. Taiwan's President William Lai Ching-te condemned the drills while the island's defence ministry said China had deployed 21 warships around the island, including the Shandong carrier group, and 71 aircraft and four coastguard vessels on Tuesday. 'China's blatant military provocations not only threaten peace in the #Taiwan Strait but also undermine security in the entire region, as evidenced by drills near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines & the SCS [South China Sea]. We strongly condemn China's escalatory behaviour,' Taiwan's Presidential Office said in a post on X. On Wednesday, Taiwan said that 76 Chinese military aircraft and 19 naval or government ships had entered waters and airspace near the island over the previous 24 hours, with 37 of the planes crossing the centre line in the 160-kilometre (110-mile) wide Taiwan Strait that forms an unofficial border with mainland China, but which Beijing refuses to acknowledge. The Shandong aircraft carrier group had also entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone, a self-defined security area tracked by the Taiwanese military. Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said the exercises were not the first conducted by China around Taiwan but these latest drills 'show how serious Beijing is about honing their capability to blockade the island of Taiwan should they deem necessary'. 'Beijing sees Taiwan, the democratic ruled island, as a breakaway Chinese province, and President Xi Jinping has said time and time again, that whether by peaceful means or by force, it will be unified again with mainland China,' Yu said. 'Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te has condemned the drills. He says, this is only demonstrating that China is a troublemaker in this region,' Yu added. The drills are expected to continue until Thursday night and China's Maritime Safety Administration has announced that an area off the northern part of the eastern province of Zhejiang, more than 500km (310 miles) from Taiwan, will be closed for shipping due to military operations.
The Independent
02-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
China unveils ‘paralysing strikes' poster as it shares code name of live-fire drills around Taiwan
The Chinese military unveiled a poster titled 'paralysing strikes' as it carried out live-fire drills around Taiwan in the latest show of force amid rising tensions in the region. The Eastern Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army said on Wednesday that the latest wargames were part of its 'Strait Thunder 2025A' drills, suggesting that they could be followed by group B exercises in the near future. The drills on Wednesday employed the Shandong aircraft carrier task group to simulate strikes on ground and maritime targets east of Taiwan. The exercises included vessel-aircraft coordination, seizure of area air superiority, and strikes on ground and maritime targets, the military said in a statement. The new poster, state media outlet Global Times reported, was captioned, 'Against the tide of history. Heading for a dead end'. The message, seen as a thinly veiled threat to Taiwan and its Western allies, came a day after a video announcing the drills called Taiwanese president Lai Ching Te a 'parasite', depicting him as a cartoon bug held up by a pair of chopsticks above a burning Taiwan. Senior colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the Eastern Theatre Command, said the 'Strait Thunder 2025A' exercises were conducted in the central and southern parts of the Taiwan Strait and focussed on 'the implementation of inspection and identification, warning and expelling, interception and seizure and other subjects'. The military said the drills were meant to practice precision strikes on port and energy facilities but did not offer details on the exact location. The exercises came on the heels of US defence secretary Pete Hegseth 's ongoing tour of Asia during which he visited many countries and criticised China, emphasising that countering its threat to Taiwan was a key priority for Washington. China, which considers Taiwan as its territory, has carried out numerous drills around the island in recent years. Beijing has escalated its rhetoric against Mr Lai, who was elected last year, denouncing him as 'separatist' for pushing for sovereignty. In view of the surprise military drills, China's Maritime Safety Administration announced closure until Thursday night of the shipping zone in the northern part of the eastern province of Zhejiang, more than 500km from Taiwan. Taiwan's defence ministry, in its latest update on Wednesday, said 76 Chinese aircraft and 15 warships had operated around Taiwan in the past 24 hours. An unnamed Taiwanese security official told Reuters that more than 10 Chinese warships operated in the island's "response zone" on Wednesday morning and that China's coast guard was participating with "harassment" drills. It's likely that China will conduct a second round of the exercises, following the precedent set by last year's major war games Joint Sword 2024A and Joint Sword 2024B. Taiwan's security officials said Beijing was attempting to normalise drills near Taiwan as it had been carrying out such patrols near the island every 7-10 days on average. Taiwan has faced the threat of a Chinese invasion since 1949 when the Republic of China government retreated to the island after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's communists. In spite of ongoing tensions, however, the two sides have not engaged in direct military conflict.
