China has launched a blistering propaganda attack on Taiwan's anti-China president, Tsai Ing-wen, again using a Taiwan-hating retired ex-general to again threaten Taiwan (the Republic of China) with invasion with a story in the war-mongering state-owned newspaper, Global Times.

The already notorious Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing military area command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), urged the PLA to begin drills along the Taiwan Strait aimed at invading Taiwan in a story published by Global Times.

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He called on the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to accelerate naval training to seal-off the Taiwan Strait separating Taiwan from the mainland, and plan the best routes for its submarines to use to attack warships of the Republic of China Navy.

"In the event of cross-strait tensions, PLA warplanes could immediately fly into Taiwanese airspace and start their attacks," he wrote.

Wang called on the PLA to stage live-fire drills on an uninhabited island near Pingta, which lies opposite the Taiwan-held island of Quemoy, which China headily bombarded but did not invade during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958.

He also said the PLA should bombard Hsinchu in northwestern Taiwan, Taoyuan (also in the northwest) and the capital Taipei (in the north) at the start of the war.

Wang said the PLA must step-up its tactical and combat readiness to attack now that Tsai had "revealed her staunch advocacy of Taiwanese independence."

Wang said Tsai's refusal to accept the "1992 consensus" and the "one China" principle, and her recent call to "resist China's pressure" illustrates her pro-independence ambition.

Taiwanese military experts said Wang's comments intend to increase pressure on the Taiwanese government and warn the pro-independence camp on the island against advancing their independence aim.

Lin Chong-pin, Taiwan's former deputy defense minister, described Wang's remarks as "psychological warfare, aimed at menacing" Taiwan.

Tsai's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party took power from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang to become Taiwan's president last May. She is Taiwan's first woman president.

Last August, the Republic of China Armed Forces (ROCAF) held its largest military exercise ever, simulating the defeat of a seaborne invasion and aerial assault on the island by Chinese infantry and Special Forces.

Tsai, a vocal critic of China, presided over the fourth day of the multi-service maneuvers that saw live fire drills conducted at the Joint Operations Training Base Command at Pingtung County in southern Taiwan. The drills ended Aug. 26.

The massive five-day exercise is the largest ever in the ROC's history and also included cyberattack and asymmetric warfare drills. It comes at a time of increasingly strained relations with mainland China that keeps piling the pressure on Tsai to take a more pro-Beijing stance, and acknowledge there is only "One China."

The maneuvers simulated different defense scenarios in the face of a massive Chinese cross-strait attack spearheaded by PLAN warships protecting transports with thousands of invasion troops of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force.

Tsai, who is also commander-in-chief of the ROCAF, warned her troops of the challenges they face as relations with China deteriorate over the long-festering issue of the ROC's independence. It is Tsai's first inspection of the Han Kuang series of exercises as commander-in-chief.

She said one of the top priorities of ROCAF this year will be to upgrade the individual equipment carried by its soldiers. She noted the troops in the exercise were wearing more modern locally designed digital camouflage uniforms.

TagsTaiwan, Republic of China, china, Wang Hongguang, Global Times, People's Liberation Army, Tsai Ing-wen, Republic of China Armed Forces