Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday it detected eight Chinese warships and 42 fighter jets around the island.
The Chinese army launched, on Saturday April 8, three days of military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, against a backdrop of tensions with the island after a meeting in the United States of its president Tsai Ing-wen and the third character of the American state.
These maneuvers “serve as serious warnings against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces, as well as their provocative activities”warned in a press release a spokesman for the Chinese army, Shi Yi.
Military exercises are aimed at “total encirclement” of the island, according to Chinese state television. “Today’s exercise focuses on the ability to take control of the sea, airspace and information […] in order to create a deterrent and a total encirclement” from Taiwan, CCTV said. The exact location of these operations is not known.
Warships and fighter planes
According to CCTV, destroyers, fast missile launchers, fighter planes, tankers and jammers are notably mobilized for these exercises. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said midday on Saturday it had detected eight Chinese warships and 42 fighter jets around the island. Twenty-nine planes crossed the median line that separates China from Taiwan, the same source said.
Live-fire exercises will be held Monday in the Taiwan Strait near the coast of Fujian (east), the province facing the island, local maritime authorities also said. Taipei felt that these maneuvers threaten the “stability and security” in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Authoritarian expansionism”
Taiwan faces a “authoritarian expansionism” from China, denounced President Tsai Ing-wen. Taiwan will continue”to work with the United States and other countries (…) to defend the values of freedom and democracy”.
The announcements follow President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the United States this week, where she met with Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday. Beijing immediately promised “firm and energetic measures” in retaliation.
China sees with dissatisfaction the rapprochement at work in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which despite the absence of official relations, provides the island with substantial military support. Beijing considers Taiwan (23 million inhabitants) as one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979 and should in theory have no official contact with the Republic of China (Taiwan), under the “one China principle” defended by Beijing.