According to a Taiwan defense ministry report on Thursday, China has stepped up grey-zone warfare against Taiwan. The report states that China’s goal is to make the areas around Taiwan “saturated” with balloons, civilian boats, and drones.
This report comes after years of Taiwan’s complaints regarding China’s escalation in grey-zone conflict tactics as a means of “harassing” Taiwan. The grey-zone warfare tactics include relying on irregular warfare tactics as a means of depleting the adversary without open combat. The report sent to parliament exclaims that Beijing has continuously launched “multi-front saturated grey-zone” tactics. One tactic in particular being the increased patrols of the air and sea space of Taiwan. The report stated that China has repeatedly crossed the Taiwan straight and its intentions are to “obscure the existence of the median line in the strait”. The report also accuses China of attempting to increase the burdens on Taiwan’s naval and air forces, including adding research and militia vessels to “disguise military activities with civilians”. The Taiwanese ministry announced it was making efforts to bolster its troops with resiliency measures. Taiwan continues to build resiliency through infrastructure and practice drills to secure its troops in the event of war. The ministry also reported a stockpiling of weapons and fuel to prepare for potential conflict. Taiwan is also implementing mobile and long-range weapons systems, artificial intelligence, and diverse command systems. These defense integrations are used to counter Chinese threats and complicate potential Chinese intervention. The Taiwanese Defense Ministry also announced an increase in the number of missile drills, as well as pilot night exercises.
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