China has launched its demonstration. China’s military simulated strikes against “key targets” in Taiwan on Sunday, the second day of a “total encirclement” drill scheduled through Monday and touted by Beijing as a “serious warning” to authorities in the island after the meeting of its president with a senior American official. Called “Joint Sword”, the operation was strongly denounced by Taiwan and the United States called on Beijing to “restraint”, ensuring to keep its communication channels with China “open”.
The maneuvers were launched after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met Wednesday in California with Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, to which Beijing promised to respond with “firm and forceful” measures. They aim to establish Chinese capabilities to “take control of the sea, airspace and information…in order to create total deterrence and encirclement” of Taiwan, state television said on Saturday. Chinese.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected nine Chinese warships and 58 aircraft around the island, after spotting as many boats and 71 aircraft the day before. He claimed to track the movements of the Chinese military through a “joint intelligence and reconnaissance system”, saying fighter jets and bombers were among the flying devices detected until noon local time.
Also on Sunday, the Chinese military simulated “precision strikes” against “key targets on the island of Taiwan and surrounding waters,” involving dozens of aircraft and ground troops, according to state television. State. Destroyers, fast missile launchers, fighter planes, tankers and jammers are notably mobilized according to Beijing, during these maneuvers which must last until Monday.
“I’m a little worried, I would be lying to you if I told you otherwise,” Donald Ho, 73, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday, met in a park in Taipei. “If there is war, both sides will suffer greatly. China regards Taiwan (23 million people) as a province it has yet to reunite with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
The maneuvers “serve as a serious warning against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces, as well as their provocative activities,” warned Chinese military spokesman Shi Yi. Washington reiterated its call on Saturday to “not change the status quo.” “We are confident that we have sufficient resources and capabilities in the region to ensure peace and stability,” the State Department said.
Live-fire exercises will be held Monday in the Taiwan Strait near the coast of Fujian (east), the province facing the island, local Chinese maritime authorities also said. These exercises, which have an “operational” dimension, are intended to demonstrate that the Chinese army will be ready, “if the provocations intensify”, to “settle once and for all the question of Taiwan”, indicated the expert. military Song Zhongping.
Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday denounced China’s “authoritarian expansionism” and assured that Taiwan would “continue to work with the United States and other countries […] to uphold the values ??of freedom and democracy”. China views with displeasure the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States which, despite the absence of official relations, provides the island with substantial military support.
For Beijing, these military drills are “a necessity” to “score points politically” with the Chinese people, said James Char, a Chinese military expert at Nanyang University of Technology in Singapore.
However, an escalation of the same intensity as that of August 2022 seems a priori ruled out, according to James Char. Beijing is trying to “warm up” its relations with Europe and waited for the “end” of a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to launch its exercises, he notes.
Last summer, China engaged in unprecedented military maneuvers around Taiwan and fired missiles in response to a visit to the island by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, then Kevin McCarthy’s House roost.
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 principle” championed by Beijing.
