Apr 16, 2007, 3:51 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan on Monday launched a military drill simulating invasion from China involving China's first aircraft carrier.
The annual drill, coded Hankuang 23, is meant to simulate a missile attack from China, followed by attack from a Chinese aircraft carrier and sabotage by Chinese spies and pro-China elements in Taiwan, the China Times said.
Taiwan would launch a counter-attack by firing missiles from its warships and F-16 warplanes at the Chinese aircraft carrier.
China is expected to finish building its first aircraft carrier within five years. By then, the 120-kilometre Taiwan Strait would no longer protect Taiwan from China because the Chinese aircraft carrier could sail to Taiwan's east coast, to allow China to attack Taiwan from both sides.
Taiwan has only four submarines - two US subs from World War II and two Dutch subs imported in the 1980s.
The China Times said that since the US is concerned about China developing aircraft carrier, it has sent a military delegation - led by Dennis Blair, former commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command - to monitor Hankuang 23.
The US, Taiwan's closet anti-Communist ally, switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but signed the Taiwan Relations Act pledging to continue to maintain unofficial ties with Taiwan and to supply Taiwan with defensive arms.
Many Taiwanese expect the US to help defend Taiwan if the island is attacked by China, but China has warned that Taiwan is part of China and the US must not to meddle in internal Chinese affairs.
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