The Taiwan issue did not end there. Indeed, it has only just begun
The Chinese military exercises are over, but the tension on the Taiwan Strait is certainly not over. Indeed, it could soon get up again. Beijing will maintain “regular” pressure on Taiwan, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Eastern Command stressed, through military training and preparations, and with “combat readiness patrols” in the Taiwan Strait even at the end of the largest maneuvers ever. implemented by Beijing, in retaliation for the visit to Taiwan by the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
This is the new “normal” around the Strait. And this risks becoming a very serious problem for Taiwan and the United States. As analyst Oriana Skylar Mastro explained, “if activities in the vicinity of Taiwan become more routine, not only do they increase the anxiety of Taipei (and probably other regional capitals as well), but they help to mask the preparations for a real military campaign. China needs an element of surprise in order to conquer Taiwan before America has time to mobilize adequate forces in the region to defend the island. If Chinese forces simulate amphibious formations, blockades, attacks and landings, it will be more difficult to know when they are preparing for the actual campaign. ”
For Beijing, there is “ample room” for the “peaceful reunification” of Taiwan with China, but “separatist activities” and external interference will not be tolerated. Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the Chinese government body that deals with Strait relations. The “non-peaceful” means for “reunification” will be considered as the “last choice”, China says, and Taiwan will have to be reunified with the “one country, two systems” model, or the same one implemented in Hong Kong.
The regularization of the exercises is a worrying scenario for Taiwan
The toll of China’s anger over Pelosi’s visit counts over one hundred violations by Chinese military aircraft of the midline that divides Taiwan from China, unofficial, but traditionally respected, and which Beijing claims it does not recognize. The Taipei Defense Ministry also accused Beijing of cyber attacks and of having conducted a disinformation campaign, with more than 280 operations identified since the beginning of this month, a few days before the start of military maneuvers, which began on 4 August. .
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese army held another military exercise on Thursday morning, after Beijing concluded its largest ever around the island.. Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for Taiwan’s Eighth Army Corps, said his military fired howitzers and flares as part of the morning’s defensive drill. The exercise in Pingtung County, the southernmost in Taiwan, started at 8:30 local time (midnight and 30 in Italy) and lasted about an hour.
L‘artillery, positioned close to the coast, was deployed side by side and the armed soldiers of the units fired the howitzers into the sea, one after the other. Taiwan also held a similar exercise two days ago in Pingtung. The military downplayed their importance, saying they were already planned and were not a response to China’s maneuvers concluded yesterday.
A model that in Taiwan is rejected en masse, especially after what happened in Hong Kong in 2019 with the violent repression of protests and the cancellation of any kind of political and civil opposition. It is no coincidence that the “reunification” proposal was rejected outright by the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen. What is written in the White Paper published by Beijing is “wishful thinking” by China, which “ignores reality”.
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