Military vehicles carrying DF-5B intercontinental ballistic missiles took part in a military parade held at Tiananmen Square in Beijing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 2019.
Greg Baker | AFP | Getty Images
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Saturday it was monitoring a series of missile tests in China’s northernmost Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and had its air defence forces on high alert.
Taiwan, a democratically ruled island that China considers its own territory, closely monitors all Chinese military activity given Beijing’s regular activity around the island but rarely publishes details about what goes on inside the country.
The ministry said it detected “multiple test launches” by China’s rocket forces in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, about 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Taiwan, from 4 a.m. (8 p.m. Friday).
Taiwan’s military is continuously monitoring the situation and air defence forces remain on alert, the defence ministry said, without providing further details.
China’s Defense Ministry did not respond to calls seeking comment outside working hours. The Rocket Force controls China’s arsenal of conventional and nuclear missiles.
In August 2022, China fired missiles into the waters around Taiwan during military exercises to express anger over then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
Taiwan has powerful radar bases on several mountain peaks in its Central Mountain Range that offer views all the way to China, security sources say.
China dislikes Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, calling him a “separatist,” and has stepped up military pressure on him since he took office, including conducting military drills.
Lai has made repeated requests to meet with China but has been rebuffed. He rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, saying only the Taiwanese people should decide Taiwan’s future.
