By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI, June 24 (Reuters) - Taiwan's military needs to test if it can respond immediately to a war breaking out, as the warning time for any Chinese attack is shortening, Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday.
Taiwan is holding five days of "immediate combat readiness" drills this week. Its military has begun basing some of its drills on a scenario in which China suddenly turns one of its regular exercises around the island into an actual attack.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and its military operates around the island on an almost daily basis. China's newest aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday.
The drills put greater emphasis on the ability to respond quickly and rapidly shift into combat readiness, Koo told reporters in parliament.
"It is intended to build the speed we believe is necessary for converting from peacetime to wartime status," he said.
"In other words, given the current threat situation from the enemy, and as we believe the warning time is shortening, we need to verify that we can respond immediately."
Taiwan holds regular military drills, including earlier this month when it fired its new U.S.-made HIMARS rocket system, which is widely used by Ukraine, into the Taiwan Strait.
Its main annual Han Kuang military exercises are expected in August.
'MALICIOUS INTENT'
Speaking in Beijing later on Wednesday, Zhang Han, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the drills showed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) "malicious intent to seek independence by force".
"In the face of the powerful people's army, the DPP authorities' posturing is completely futile; it will only harm and destroy Taiwan and bring about their own destruction," she said.
Zhang reiterated that Beijing was willing to make the greatest efforts to achieve "peaceful reunification".
"However, we will never pledge to renounce the use of force, and we will never leave any room for separatist activities seeking Taiwan independence in any form."
China held its most recent full-scale war games around Taiwan in late December.
MILITARY MODERNISATION
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is leading a push to modernise the armed forces, including a goal to boost defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product before 2030.
"I ask all senior generals to lead force transformation with innovative thinking," Lai told a military promotion ceremony for generals on Wednesday.
Rapidly changing regional conditions and multidimensional, non-traditional, complex challenges made such efforts necessary, he added.
The United States, traditionally Taiwan's most important international supporter and arms supplier despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, has strongly backed the government's plans to boost defence spending.
U.S. allies in the region share a consensus on the need to prevent a "contingency from occurring and to build robust deterrence," Raymond Greene, the top U.S. diplomat in Taipei, said in comments shared by the de facto U.S. embassy on Tuesday.
"In line with the U.S. national security strategy, we aim to work alongside regional allies to maintain the status quo of the first island chain and prevent any attempts to take Taiwan by force," Greene told Taiwan's United Daily News in an interview.
The first island chain refers to an area stretching from Japan down to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
