The military maneuvers organized by China around Taiwan entered the second day yesterday, in which the Chinese military “carried out simulated attacks on key targets on the island and in the surrounding waters”. State broadcaster CCTV reported that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA, Chinese army) “continued pressure around the island” as part of the exercises, which will last until Monday.
The eastern PLA conflict zone ordered “dozens” of “early warning, reconnaissance, attack, bombing and jamming aircraft” raids, the channel said. A total of 71 aircraft and 9 military ships from China made incursions into areas near Taiwan during the maneuvers.
PLA patrollers “took up attack positions” through “high-speed maneuvers”. Also, the Xuzhou frigate “conducted tactical operations” in waters east of Taiwan, the chain gathered, which showed images of Chinese naval and air forces in action.
In addition, the military portfolio explained on its account on the social network Twitter that 45 of the Chinese airplanes crossed the median line of the Formosa Strait, which in practice is an unofficial border tacitly respected by Taipei and Beijing during the last decades
Models such as SU-30, J-10 and J-11 fighters took part in the air raid, which took place in the southwestern and northern parts of Taiwan’s self-defined Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is not defined or regulated by any international treaty and is not equivalent to its airspace.
The island’s air force monitored the situation with combat air and naval patrols and with ground-based missile systems, the ministry said.
Over the past two years, Chinese military aircraft have made numerous incursions into the Taiwanese ADIZ, and they have intensified at times when tensions between the two territories have worsened.
Well-known Chinese journalist Hu Xijin told the local newspaper Global Times last night that the maneuvers are “an explosion in the heart and bowels of Taiwan’s separatists”, while accusing the United States of “increasing arms sales and aid military†on the self-governing island.
China announced the military drills on Saturday in response to Wednesday’s meeting in California between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
A military spokesman defined the maneuvers as “a serious warning” against “the provocation of separatist forces” and a “necessary action to protect the national sovereignty and territorial integrity” of China. For its part, Taiwan described the maneuvers as “an irrational act that endangers regional security and stability”.
From Washington, the White House asked Beijing for “moderation”, and assured that it is keeping the channels of communication with China “open”.
In an interview given before the maneuvers and published on Sunday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, stressed the need “not to enter into a block-by-block logic”. Europe is not “following” the United States, or China Taiwan, he told the French newspaper Les Echos.
The situation is reminiscent of the one experienced in August, when the visit to Taiwan by the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, infuriated Beijing, which responded with military maneuvers around the island after a trip that described as “farce” and “deplorable betrayal”.
Beijing has considered Taiwan a rebel province since the Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in 1949 after losing a civil war against the communist army.
The island is one of the main reasons for the conflict between China and the United States, especially because Washington is the main supplier of weapons to Taiwan and would be the most important military ally in the event of a war with China.
