Military maneuvers were launched around Taiwan on Saturday August 19 by China in response to recent stops in the United States by the Vice President of Taiwan, this island territory claimed by Beijing.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Area Command on Saturday launched joint air and sea patrols and navy and air force military drills around the island of Taiwan,” he said. wrote the official New China news agency, quoting army spokesman Shi Yi.
These maneuvers are intended to test the ability of Chinese ships and aircraft “to take control of airspace and sea” and to fight “under real conditions”, the official article states. They were also to serve as “stern warnings against the collusion of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists with foreign elements and their provocations”, the agency added.
Beijing warned on Sunday that it intends to “closely monitor developments and [take] firm and forceful measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Taiwan strongly condemned on Saturday “this irrational and provocative behavior” and promised to send “appropriate forces to respond to it (…) in order to defend Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and sovereignty”.
“Conducting a military exercise (…) under a false pretense not only does not contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but also highlights the [Chinese] militaristic mentality and confirms the hegemonic nature of its military expansion,” the island’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
Beijing’s Black Beast
William Lai, favorite in next year’s Taiwanese presidential election, who has called himself a “pragmatic separatist”, is Beijing’s pet peeve. The Harvard-educated doctor-turned-politician stopped by New York and San Francisco on a trip to Paraguay, one of the few nations that officially recognize Taiwan.
The trip has angered China, which regards Taiwan as one of its provinces and opposes any official contact between Taiwan and Western countries – which would legitimize the Taiwanese authorities and undermine its claims of sovereignty over the island. . Washington had called for calm over Lai’s trip, which Taiwan authorities said was only “transiting” through US soil before heading to Paraguay to attend the inauguration of President-elect Santiago Peña.
But on Saturday, an official from the Chinese Communist Party’s office in charge of Taiwan issues “strongly condemned” Lai’s trip, calling it “further provocation” to “enhance collusion with the United States.” , according to New China.
“Mr. Lai’s last ‘stopover’…was a cover-up he used to sell Taiwan’s interests to secure gains in local elections through dishonest manoeuvres,” the official said, according to the same article. “Mr. Lai’s actions have proven that he is a real troublemaker who will push Taiwan to the brink of war and cause serious problems for Taiwan compatriots,” the statement continued.
“Resist Annexation”
Mr. Lai received the nomination from the Democratic Progressive Party to run for president in 2024 and succeed President Tsai Ing-wen, whose second term will end then.
During a lunch in New York last Sunday, Mr. Lai reaffirmed his intention to maintain the “commitment to resist annexation or encroachment on [the] sovereignty” of Taiwan. “At this critical moment, we promise again here and now that no matter how great the authoritarian threat to Taiwan, we will never be afraid and we will never back down,” he told a crowd. audience including representatives of the American Institute in Taiwan which, de facto, acts as the US Embassy on the island.
Beijing-Taipei relations soured in 2016 with the arrival of Tsai Ing-wen as president, with Beijing intensifying political and military pressure on the archipelago in recent years. Military planes regularly make incursions into the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone.
In April, while Ms Tsai was meeting US Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, China held three days of military exercises simulating a blockade of Taiwan.
