China is studying the experience of the war in Ukraine to develop “hybrid warfare” strategies against Taiwan, including the use of drones and psychological pressure, a senior Taiwanese security official said on Wednesday.

Taiwan is carefully studying the lessons of the war in Ukraine to see how it might react if China, which claims the democratically governed island as its territory, responds to threats to use force to enforce its sovereignty claims.

China held military exercises around Taiwan in August to vent its anger over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei and has continued military operations ever since, albeit at a limited pace.

Speaking in Parliament, the director general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Chen Ming-Tong, said that China is also paying attention to what is happening in Ukraine.

“This year, the communist armed forces took advantage of the experience of the Russian-Ukrainian war to develop a “hybrid war” against Taiwan and step up their training and training against powerful enemies,” he told lawmakers.

Since the August exercise, China has expanded its “grey zone” and hybrid operations against Taiwan, Chen said, especially through the use of drones that have flown both near Taiwan-controlled islands off China’s coast and in Taiwan’s air defense reconnaissance zone.

Taiwan claims that China’s military campaign in the “gray zone” includes unorthodox tactics to wear down the enemy without resorting to open combat, such as frequent overflights into Taiwan’s air defense zone and forcing the Taiwanese air force into combat.

China posted images of the Taiwanese military online to “slander” them and attack the government, he said, referring to a video posted on Chinese social media in August showing Taiwanese soldiers on offshore islands being hijacked by drones.

These actions “underscore that the Chinese Communists have stepped up their cognitive warfare, gray zone activities and other hybrid methods, which have become a new form of threat to national security,” Chen added.

The Taiwan Affairs Office of China did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China has accused Taiwan of escalating tensions, saying it is “cooperating” with foreign powers against Beijing to promote the island’s formal independence.

Chen said China’s military threats tie US and allied support to Taiwan to ensure that what happened in Ukraine does not happen again in the Taiwan Strait.

It will strengthen Taiwan’s ability to confront China and prevent “its plans to attack Taiwan,” he said.

Source: Reuters.