Cornered by China’s increasingly aggressive salami-slicing tactics, Taiwan’s defense ministry last week reminded China that it will fire at intruding People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces even if they don’t fire first, a repetition by Taiwan’s defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng of a doctrine first enunciated by Chiu in October 2022, when he said the Taiwan military would view any crossing of aircraft or vessels as a first strike.
Chiu’s statement is concerning because Taiwan is regarded as having no other options, given the rapid expansion of Chinese “gray zone” tactics against its territorial integrity. Since 2020, the island has recorded increasingly frequent PLA incursions into its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and crossing of the Taiwan Strait median line by large, combat-credible groupings of fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft. Affairs reached a new stage of intensity in late January when the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration unilaterally announced flight path adjustments that would bring commercial airliners closer to the median line. Pushing the boundaries even further, China’s coast guard in late February boarded and checked a Taiwanese tourist boat in Taiwan-controlled waters near the frontline Kinmen islands following the drowning of two Chinese fishermen after their boats capsized when chased by Taiwan’s coast guard in the same area.
This arc of developments closely resembles those in the South China Sea’s Second Thomas Shoal, where China’s gray-zone tactics are rapidly eroding the Philippines’ control of contested waters. On March 5, the Philippines accused China of disrupting its mission to resupply troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre, a grounded warship, by ramming Philippine supply boats and shooting water cannons at them, injuring four people on board.
https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/taiwan-shoot-intruding-forces
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