Retired PLA general calls on mainland China forces to practise retaking of Taiwan
Remarks on website of hawkish Global Times seen to increase pressure on Taiwan
A retired PLA general has called on mainland forces to begin practising to retake Taiwan, comments Taiwanese analysts said were meant to put more pressure on the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen.
Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing military area command, said the People’s Liberation Army Navy should step up naval training to seal off the Taiwan Strait, and map out the best routes for its submarines to prepare for attacks.
In an online comment published by the hawkish Beijing-based Global Times website on Friday, Wang suggested the PLA Air Force should also conduct air attack drills near the virtual mid-line that divides the strait.
“In the event of cross-strait tensions, PLA warplanes could immediately fly into Taiwanese airspace and start their attacks,” he said.
Wang called on the PLA to stage live-fire drills on an uninhabited island near Pingtan – just opposite Taiwan’s outlying island of Quemoy. “During wartime, all the PLA would need to do is to turn its weapons towards Taiwan and the shelling could cover as far as Hsinchu, Taoyuan and even Taipei in Taiwan,” he said.