China simulated attacks on “key targets” in Taiwan on Sunday, in the second day of “total siege” military exercises scheduled to run through Monday, a “serious warning” according to Beijing following the Taiwanese president’s meeting with a senior US official.
Taiwan and the United States denounced the operation, called “Joint Sword”, and asked Beijing for “restraint” while ensuring that they keep their communication channels with China open.
The moves began after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday.
Beijing vowed to respond to the meeting with “firm and forceful” measures.
The exercises are aimed at establishing China’s ability to “seize control of the sea, airspace and information… to create a deterrence and total encirclement” of Taiwan, Chinese state television said on Saturday.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry spotted nine Chinese warships and 58 aircraft around the island on Sunday, after sighting as many ships and 71 aircraft the day before.
The ministry said it was monitoring the movements of the Chinese military through a “joint intelligence and reconnaissance system”, saying that planes detected as of midday Sunday included fighters and bombers.
Also on Sunday, the Chinese military staged “precision strikes” against “key targets on the island of Taiwan and the surrounding waters,” involving dozens of aircraft and ground troops, according to state television.
Beijing said that destroyers, speedboats and fighter planes, among others, are being mobilized in the maneuvers, which will last until Monday.
“I’m a little worried, I’d be lying if I said otherwise,” Donald Ho, 73, told AFP in a Taipei park on Sunday. “If there is war, both sides will suffer a lot,” he added.
“serious warning”
China considers the island of Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, as one of its provinces that it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
The moves “serve as a serious warning against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces,” said a Chinese military spokesman, Shi Yi.
Washington on Saturday reiterated its call “not to 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.
The Chinese government announced it will hold live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait near the coast of Fujian, a province off the island, on Monday, according to local maritime authorities.
The exercises, which have an “operational” dimension, are intended to demonstrate that the Chinese military will be ready “if provocations intensify” to “resolve the Taiwan issue once and for all,” military expert Song told AFP. Zhongping.
“authoritarian expansionism”
The AFP did not verify on Sunday an increase in military activities on the north coast of the island of Pingtan, in the province of Fujian, near where the exercises with live fire are to be carried out.
Along a road near the coast, Lin Ren plays the Chinese anthem while selling coffee behind his car. “I think (the exercises) clearly show them that we have the means (…) to unify” the territory, the 29-year-old told AFP.
President Tsai on Saturday denounced China’s “authoritarian expansionism” and assured that Taiwan “will continue to work with the United States and other countries (…) to uphold the values of freedom and democracy.”
China is unhappy with the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which, despite the absence of official relations, provides the island with significant military support.
In August, China conducted unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan and fired missiles in response to a visit to the island by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy’s predecessor in the House of Representatives.
The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979 and, in theory, should not have any official contact with the ROC (Taiwan) under the “one China principle” advocated by Beijing.
AFP
#China #simulates #attacks #key #targets #Taiwan