For the dictatorship in Beijing, the meeting that took place this week between the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing Wen, and the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, is an affront to their sovereign claims over the territory. That is why he has launched a notice in the form of new combined military exercises around Taiwan.
Maneuvers that began this Saturday and will take place at least until next Monday in which all branches of the Chinese Army will carry out artillery exercises, naval and air deployments, and mock missile launches that “will surround the island of Taiwan from four addresses”.
Operations that involve sending a “severe message” for the Taiwanese administration as the spokesman for the Eastern Command, Colonel Shi Yi, explained to the Global Times regime. Administration which he describes as “secessionist forces that demand the independence of Taiwan” and against which they carry out, he says, “a necessary movement to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The truth is that tension is rising in the area since, according to Chinese military experts, these drills with a Chinese signature are in practice equivalent to a dress rehearsal of what an island blockade would be. A scenario conceived, they say, to prevent both the deployment of Taiwanese forces and external interference.
Two-phase maneuvers
The operation to threaten Taiwan that Beijing has launched this Saturday will be divided into two phases. A first in which will rehearse the deployment of patrols on combat alertthe same ones that have been flying over the Taiwan Strait for months and that, frequently, momentarily cross the so-called “Davis line” that divides the strait in two and is considered the beginning of the Taiwan security zone.
After this deployment, the Eastern Command will carry out the so-called joint exercises, in which Fighter planes and warships will surround the island while executing real combat oriented drills. Second phase that will end on Monday with a live fire drill off the coast of Pingtan, Chinese province of Fujian and only 130 kilometers from Taiwan.
However, it is not clear that this new threat has a deadline in light of the fact that China has issued additional alerts for drills with live fire at least until April 20 in the area.
Taiwan activates its defense
Faced with this threat, the Ministry of Defense of Taiwan was not slow to denounce this Saturday that has already detected more than forty combat aircraft and eight warships in the area. Of these planes, he assures him, 29 have already violated his air defense space in the north, center and south of the island.
“We condemn such an irrational act that endangers the security and stability of the region,” declared the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, which immediately followed has deployed fighter jets, Navy ships, and activated ground-based missile launch systemswhile continuing to monitor the situation closely.