While the eyes of the international community are trained on the conflict in Ukraine and on a possible military intervention in Niger, China continues to threaten and intimidate Taiwan. On Saturday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it detected 42 incursions by Chinese military aircraft into its air defense zone in just a few hours.
Among these incursions, 26 warplanes crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait and eight Chinese ships also participated in the maneuvers. What does Beijing say on its side? “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Saturday launched joint air and sea patrols and navy and air force military drills around the island of Taiwan.” A “severe warning”, according to the official New China agency, citing army spokesman Shi Yi.
William Lai, a “troublemaker” according to Beijing
Faced with these threats, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said that “the national army is monitoring and using reconnaissance methods to strictly control” the situation, adding that it has sent fighter jets and warships.
These “military exercises” took place after Taiwanese Vice President William Lai stopped in New York and then San Francisco before and after a trip to Paraguay. William Lai, a favorite in next year’s Taiwanese presidential election and a vocal opponent of Beijing’s claims to the island, returned on Friday from a trip to Paraguay during which he stopped in New York and San Francisco.
China reacted angrily to the US stops and reaffirmed on Saturday that William Lai was a “troublemaker”, promising “stern warnings about the collusion of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists with foreign elements and their provocations.
Training “in real conditions”
According to New China, these maneuvers are intended to test the ability of Chinese ships and planes “to take control of air and sea spaces” and to fight “in real conditions”.
performs exercises in an area around Taiwan, Saturday August 19, 2023 – AP / SIPA
Taiwan strongly condemned “this irrational and provocative behavior” and promised to send “the appropriate forces to respond to it (…) in order to defend Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and sovereignty”.
“The conduct of a military exercise […] under a false pretense not only does not contribute to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but also highlights the (Chinese) militarist mentality and confirms the hegemonic nature of its military expansion,” the Ministry of Defense said. National defense of the island in a press release on Saturday.