If there is one global flashpoint right now, it is the South China Sea. The subject of myriad maritime disputes, it is often the subject of the US and China tensions, with the US threatening sanctions over island ownership.
With the risk of exchanges of fire already high, Taiwan has decided this is a good time for a military exercise with live fire drills, including launching torpedoes into the waters to simulate attacks on dummy targets.
China is always tense with Taiwan, and the two have territorial disputes in the South China Sea, so this too is another risk of something becoming another moment where a misunderstanding could quickly escalate out of control.
Taiwan, for its part, emphasized the power of the weapons deployed to the exercise, and that this is the first time in 13 years of exercises they used the torpedoes.
Taiwan Holds Live Fire Drill in Tense South China Sea
Ships fire missiles, torpedoes in troubled waters
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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