China is building the capacity to quickly turn military exercises into a full-scale attack. This was stated by a high-ranking Taiwan security official, quoted by "Reuters".
His words show the government in Taipei's assessment of the strategic intentions behind Beijing's military exercises around the island this week.
China considers democratically-ruled Taiwan its territory and on Monday staged a day-long exercise around the island, which it presented as a warning against "separatist actions" following Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te's speech last week on the occasion of the country's national holiday.
Over the past five years, Taiwan has complained of almost daily Chinese military activity around the island, including at least four rounds of major military exercises and regular "joint combat readiness patrols".
"They are increasing their capacity building to turn military exercises into conflict," the official warned at a briefing in Taipei.
Taiwan said a record 153 Chinese aircraft took part in the drills, and the official also singled out an unprecedented 25 Chinese navy and coast guard vessels that also came close to Taiwan's 24-mile contiguous zone.
"They came very close to Taiwan. They increased their pressure on it and shortened Taiwan's response time," the official said. "This exercise poses a greater threat than ever to Taiwan.
The official said that during the exercise, China fired two missiles at an unspecified internal area, but did not provide further details.
"Although they did not fire missiles at Taiwan this time, they practiced missile launches," the official noted.
On Monday, China's Defense Ministry vowed to take further action against Taiwan, and yesterday China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing would never back down from using force over Taiwan.
The Taiwanese official said their own intelligence had detected signs of China's drills and deployed assets, including mobile missile launchers, at strategic points before Beijing announced the military drills early Monday morning.
Lai and his government reject Beijing's claims to sovereignty and say that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future. Lai has repeatedly offered negotiations, but China has refused.