Taiwan holds air defence drill ahead of President's Pacific trip

Taiwan conducts air defence drill ahead of President Lai's Pacific trip amid tensions with China.

Taiwan's military held an early morning air defence drill on Thursday (November 28, 2024) to test its response and engagement procedures, ahead of a trip by President Lai Ching-te at the end of the week to the Pacific that will include U.S. stopovers.

China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using Mr. Lai's upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled U.S. transit as a pretext, according to assessments by Taiwan and regional security officials.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and says Mr. Lai is a "separatist". Mr. Lai says only Taiwan's people can decide their future and has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing that have been rebuffed.

Taiwan's air force command said in a statement that made no mention of Mr. Lai's overseas trip that for a two-hour period starting from 5 a.m. (2100 GMT Wednesday) aircraft, ships and missile systems were involved in an "overall air defence battle plan exercise".

The drill was to "strengthen the overall effectiveness of air defence operations and to test the response and engagement procedures of the air defence forces", it added.

"In the face of changes in the enemy situation, we will continue to enhance defence resilience through various practical training to anticipate potential threats and challenges and ensure air defence security," the command said.

The Defence Ministry told Reuters separately that it was a regular drill carried out quarterly.