China concluded its military exercises around Taiwan on Monday with a island blockade simulation and with the anticipated participation of the Shandong, the second aircraft carrier of the Asian country.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense announced the “complete success” of the exercises, which began on Friday in retaliation for the meeting last Wednesday in California between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
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Beijing needs to exercise self-control and stop coercing the Taiwanese people
After three days of maneuvers, the Chinese military declared that it had “successfully completed” his exercises called “Joint Sword”.
The Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stated in a statement that the exercise “fully tested combat ability integrated joint of multiple sectors of the army under combat conditions”.
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During the maneuvers, Beijing simulated targeted attacks on Taiwan as well as the encirclement of the island, including its “sealing”, and state media reported that dozens of planes had practiced an “air blockade”.
China also announced that fighter jets carrying “live ammunition” carried out “simulated attacks” near Taiwan, and that its aircraft carrier Shandong was involved in the ongoing military maneuvers.
“Multiple groups of H-6K fighters carrying live ammunition (…) carried out multiple waves of simulated attacks against important targets on the island of Taiwan“, the Chinese military said in a statement, adding that Shandong also “participated in today’s exercise.”
The United States raises tensions in the area
The United States, which had repeatedly called on China for restraint, on Monday sent the guided missile destroyer “USS Milius” through disputed parts of the South China Sea.
“This freedom of navigation operation respected the rights, freedoms and legitimate uses of the sea,” the US Navy said in a statement, explaining that the ship had passed near the Spratly Islands, an archipelago claimed by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam , Malaysia and Brunei and located about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from Taiwan.
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The deployment of the Milius immediately drew condemnation from China, which claimed that the vessel had “illegally invaded” its territorial waters.
Russia supports the Asian giant
Separately, Beijing warned on Monday that Taiwanese independence and peace on both sides of the strait are “mutually exclusive”, and it blamed the Taiwanese government and unnamed “foreign forces” for the tensions.
“If we want to protect peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, we must firmly oppose any form of Taiwanese separatism,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
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Russia, an ally of China, defended the maneuversand a Kremlin spokesman said Beijing had a “sovereign right” to respond to what Moscow called “provocations”.
An aircraft carrier, ten ships and 59 aircraft participated
The Shandong, China’s second aircraft carrier -the first nationally manufactured-, also participated in the exercises along with at least five other military ships, as the Chinese press had anticipated.
According to analysts quoted by the Taiwanese agency CNA, the Shandong presence in the exercises is aimed at “verifying that the Chinese forces can launch attacks from multiple points and blockade the island without having to use missiles”.
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If we want to protect peace and stability in Taiwan, we must oppose any form of separatism
“That the Shandong has sailed in the eastern Taiwanese waters means that the Chinese army also seeks to block the potential passage of ships Americans to support Taiwan,” says expert Lin Yingyou of Tamkang University.
Likewise, a total of 59 planes and eleven military ships from China made incursions this Monday morning in areas around Taiwan, the official CNA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, China reiterated today that the “independence of Taiwan and peace and stability” in the Strait of Formosa are “incompatible” and that what concerns the island is a “purely internal” matter.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin further asserted that the “biggest threat to peace in Taiwan” is “separatist activities and collusion with foreign forces”.
The spokesman reiterated what was said last Saturday by the Chinese Army, which described the maneuvers as “necessary to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Taiwan Crisis On 9 April in the morning
Taiwan Coast Guard vessel warns off a Chinese naval vessel.
“You are already seriously undermining regional peace and stability,” the Coast Guard radios to the ship.
(Video source: Ocean Affairs Council)#TaiwanStrait #Taiwan #China pic.twitter.com/sh6aAHczow
—Taiwan News (@TaiwanNews24_7) April 9, 2023
Taiwan remains on alert
Taiwan once again expressed its “strong condemnation” against the military maneuvers and its Defense Ministry indicated on Twitter that the island’s armed forces remain on “high alert” for “contingencies”, “firmly maintaining their posts 24 hours a day “.
we will never give up
to our beliefs
“We can and will defend our skies. And we will never renounce our beliefs,” they said. For the island, for Beijing to carry out the “provocative” maneuvers in protest of the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy is equivalent to “clearly challenging the international order” and “undermining the peace and stability of the Strait of Taiwan and the region”.
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“It is a fundamental right of a sovereign country that its head of state carry out diplomatic activities,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff YJ Liu said at a press conference today, adding that “China does not have any right to comment on this.”
However, Liu assured that “Taiwan will not escalate conflicts or provoke disputes,” although he assured that the island “will firmly defend its sovereignty and national security.”
“Beijing has to exercise self-control and stop coercing the Taiwanese people,” he said.
Santiago Andres Venera Salazar
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*With information from agencies
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