Dongsha Islands
Chinese invasion drill: Taiwan's Marine 'Iron Force' sent to Dongsha Islands
Beijing: Amid COVID-19 pandemic when China has allegedly taken up an aggressive stance, Taiwan's military has dispatched more Marines to the Dongsha Islands which Beijing is planning to invade, media reports said.
On Aug 3, Kyodo News cited PLA National Defense University professor Li Daguang as saying in Hong Kong’s Bauhinia Magazine that the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will stage a landing exercise on China's Hainan Island to simulate an invasion of the Dongsha Islands, reports Taiwan News.
Although Li later denied this, claiming he had instead been referring to an article published earlier by Kyodo News, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) has been on alert since reports surfaced in May saying the PLA is planning such a mock invasion, with state-run mouthpiece the Global Times even warned could become a real invasion, reported the Taiwanese news portal.
CommonWealth Magazine on July 30 cited Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wang Ting-yu as saying that the Marine Corps has sent additional companies of troops to help defend the Dongsha Islands and that the armed forces are "prepared for the worst", the news portal reported.
Wang said that if enemy forces capture the Dongsha Islands, the military has drafted a "Border Protection Battle Plan" in which Army airborne special operations forces would combine with the Marines to mount a counterattack by sea and air from Taiwan's Taiping Island (Itu Aba).
Wang told the magazine that in May, the 99th Marine Brigade, nicknamed the "Iron Force," was deployed to the Dongsha Islands for the first time in 20 years.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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