Taiwan live-fire drills on islet closest to mainland China underscore Ukraine worries

The drills on Dongyin come amid Taiwan’s raised alert level over fears that Beijing might choose to emulate Russian invasion

The missile base on Dongyin would be ‘a must-attack’ for the PLA, retired Taiwanese rear admiral has warned

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Night patrol in Dongyin, which sits on an important passage for any southbound PLA forces. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:56pm, 16 Mar 2022Updated: 5:08pm, 16 Mar 2022

Taiwan held live-fire drills in its northernmost territory on Wednesday, putting the spotlight on a remote islet strategically located at a chokepoint near mainland China and potentially vulnerable to attack.

The defence ministry says the exercises on Dongyin, part of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the mainland Chinese city of Fuzhou, are routine. However, this comes as Taiwan has raised its alert level after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the self-ruled island wary of Beijing making a similar move.

Soldiers fired shells at a floating red cross in the water, meant to represent advancing enemy forces, as machine guns echoes, punctuated by cannon fire, reverberated around the rugged coastline.

Although Taiwan has not reported any unusual activities by Beijing since the Ukraine war began, on February 5 a small, propeller-driven Chinese aircraft flew very close to Dongyin. The highly unusual event thrust the normally sleepy islet into the headlines.

Taipei said they suspected Beijing was deploying a civilian aircraft to test the responses of its military.

Taiwan does not publish details of its military presence there, but the Dongyin Area Command has been at the front line of Taiwanese defences since the 1950s.

Chieh Chung, researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, said Dongyin’s forces are equipped with Taiwanese self-made Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles and Sky Bow II surface-to-air missiles, making it “the most strategically important” outlying island.

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