(Beijing) China conducted a “total encirclement” exercise on the island in the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, mobilizing at least nine warships and 71 military aircraft on the first day of military maneuvers that will last until Monday. Security.
Experts say the maneuvers are in response to a recent meeting in the US between a senior US official and Taiwan’s president, who condemned China’s “authoritarian expansion”.
“Today’s training focuses on the ability to control sea, airspace and information […] Chinese state television said on Saturday after the military announced the measures, in order to create a blockade and complete encirclement of Taiwan.
At the start of the operations, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected 13 aircraft and three Chinese military vessels around the island. As of 4 p.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern), the armada consisted of nine ships and 71 military aircraft, the ministry said.
Includes warships, fast missile launchers, fighter jets, tankers and jammers.
Photo by Dingshu Wang, Reuters
A large screen shows images of a Chinese Air Force fighter jet training over Taiwan in a commercial area in Beijing, China, on April 8.
Chinese military spokesman Shi Yi warned that the maneuvers “serve as serious warnings against collusion between separatist forces and outside powers seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and their provocations.”
The exact location of these exercises is not known. The narrow strip between the Chinese coast and the island is about 130 kilometers wide.
These measures, which include “patrols,” are “necessary to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the same spokesman reasoned.
“Grades”
Live-fire drills will take place on Monday in the Taiwan Strait near the coast of Fujian (eastern) province, which faces the island, local maritime officials said.
The drills, which have an “operational” dimension, are intended to demonstrate that the Chinese military is ready to “solve all of Taiwan’s issues once and for all” if “provocations escalate,” military expert Song Zhongping points out to AFP.
The maneuvers followed a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday.
Photo by Frederick J. Brown, Agence France-Presse
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy hold a press conference when they meet in Simi Valley, California on April 5.
Beijing vowed “firm and forceful measures” in response.
On Saturday, Tsai Ing-wen condemned China’s “authoritarian expansion” and pledged that Taiwan would “continue to work with the United States and other countries.” […] To protect the values of freedom and democracy”.
China views with displeasure the rapprochement in recent years between Taiwanese officials and the United States, which provides substantial military support to the island despite the lack of official ties.
For Beijing, the military drills are “necessary” to “score points politically” with the Chinese people after a humiliation, said AFP James Char, an expert on the Chinese military at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
However, Mr. According to Saar, an increase of the same intensity as last summer appears to be a premature rejection. French President Emmanuel Macron is on a state visit to launch his exercises.
“Here we go again”
In August, China engaged in unprecedented military maneuvers around Taiwan, and Democrat Nancy Pelosi, Mr. When House visited Roost Island ahead of McCarthy, it fired missiles.
China considers Taiwan (23 million people) one of its provinces, which has not been able to reunite with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979 and should theoretically have no official contact with the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the “One China Policy” advanced by Beijing.
In Pingtan, which is closest to Taiwan in southeast China, tourists saw the sea’s choppy waters, but no significant military activity was visible. Others casually posed in front of a large seal representing Chinese beaches and the iconic monument of Taiwan, Pingtan.
In downtown Taipei’s Liberty Square, where scores of young people gather in small groups every weekend, they didn’t seem too threatened Saturday by China’s machinations. “I think most Taiwanese are used to it [aux manœuvres]. We say to ourselves, here we go again,” explains 16-year-old schoolboy Jim Chai.
