Taiwan lowered the threshold to trigger air raid alarms in case of a Chinese incursion, raising concerns that the revised system might leave citizens with less time to seek shelter during conflict.
Taiwanese defence minister Wellington Koo Li-hsiung said the change was necessary due to the repeated and escalating hostilities by China across the Taiwan Strait.
But he assured that China will not remain “unchallenged within Taiwan’s vicinity”.
Taiwan has been issuing air raid alerts if the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft or vessel breached the 70 nautical miles limit of the Taiwanese coast. However, that limit has been revised in recent years and now the air raid alert is triggered at 24 nautical miles.
“China’s repeated provocations across the median line and escalating hostilities around Taiwan have necessitated this adjustment,” Mr Koo was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.
“The military will respond by closely monitoring and analysing the situation to discern PLA intentions, ensuring they cannot operate unchallenged within Taiwan’s vicinity,” he said.
Beijing views Taiwan, an island of 23 million people which is about 160km (100 miles) off China’s east coast, as a renegade province that must come under its control.
The median line refers to the unofficial maritime boundary in the Taiwan Strait, a 180km-wide body of water separating Taiwan and mainland China. The line was first delineated in the 1950s by the US during the Cold War but Beijing has repeatedly refused to accept it and disregarded it, raising tensions.
The Taiwanese government has accused China of intensifying its military harassment of the island in recent years, sending military vessels and aircraft near it almost daily. Beijing has also been flying balloons – which are feared to be used for surveillance – near the island despite Taiwan’s complaints.
Military officials in Taiwan have reportedly said the decision is to better align its defences with the PLA’s strategies, possibly to avoid issuing warnings too early or unnecessarily.
However, the concern raised is that this adjustment could reduce the amount of time civilians have to seek shelter in case of a real threat during a potential cross-strait conflict.
On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it detected five PLA aircraft and seven PLA navy vessels operating in the strait with at least four of the aircraft crossing the median line.
It came as Taiwan said it detected a Chinese balloon over the sea to Taiwan’s north, the first incident since April and in the days leading to the presidential election in January.
