The Chinese army said on Monday that it had “successfully completed” its military maneuvers aimed at encircling the autonomous island of Taiwan for three days, which Beijing claims as a province of China.
From April 8 to 10, the Chinese military command “successfully completed various tasks” of military preparation “around the island of Taiwan with the exercise ‘Joint Sword'”, the army said in a message broadcast on the social networks.
It has “extensively tested its ‘joint’ combat capability under real conditions”, the Chinese command added.
Denounced by Taiwan and the United States, which called for “restraint” while deploying a destroyer in waters claimed by Beijing, these maneuvers, which mobilized a dozen warships and around 70 aircraft, received Monday a explicit political support from Russia.
“China has the sovereign right to react (to) provocative actions” of the United States, “in particular by conducting maneuvers”, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press.
The Chinese maneuvers, which began on Saturday, were aimed at protesting against a meeting on Wednesday between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
“Air blockade”
Objective ? Simulate a “closure” of the territory of 23 million inhabitants claimed by Beijing, explained the Chinese army. And in particular an “air blockade”, according to state television CCTV.
“Taiwan independence and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are mutually exclusive,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing, deeming it necessary to s “firmly oppose any form of separatism for the independence of Taiwan”.
The command of the Eastern theater of operations of the Army specified that the shandongone of China’s two aircraft carriers, “participated in today’s exercise”.
During the maneuvers, fighter planes and warships simulated targeted bombardments against the island.
“Locked” Missiles
The United States also seemed to want to make a show of force: the American destroyer USS Milius carried out a “freedom of navigation operation” on Monday in a sector of the South China Sea claimed by Beijing – an “intrusion” immediately denounced by China.
Japan also said it had taken off fighter jets in recent days in response to those having taken off and landed from the aircraft carrier. shandong.
In a video posted on the Army’s Eastern Theater Command WeChat account on Monday, a Chinese pilot said he “arrived near the northern part of the island of Taiwan” with missiles “locked in place”.
In another video set to dramatic music, an officer’s whistle causes military personnel to race into position, while a mock barrage over Taiwan appears on screen.
Something to worry the public. “We ordinary people just want a simple and stable life,” said Lin Ke-qiang, a 60-year-old resident of Beigan Island in the Matsu archipelago that belongs to Taiwan but is visible from the Chinese coast.
“If a war comes, now that their missiles are so advanced, we have no chance of resisting, we will be crushed”, adds this man who works as a cook.
We ordinary people just want a simple and stable life.
On Saturday, Tsai Ing-wen denounced China’s “authoritarian expansionism” and assured that Taiwan would “continue to work with the United States and other countries […] to defend the values of freedom and democracy”.
” Warning “
China views with displeasure the rapprochement 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.
It considers Taiwan to be a province that it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing aims for this reunification by force if necessary.
Monday’s live-fire exercises were planned in the Taiwan Strait near the coast of Fujian (east), the province facing the island, according to local Chinese maritime authorities.
The maneuvers “serve as a serious warning against the collusion between the separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces, as well as their provocative activities”, warned a spokesman for the Chinese army, Shi Yi.
The last major deployment around the island was in August, when China engaged in unprecedented military maneuvers around Taiwan and fired missiles in response to a visit to the island by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, then president of the United States House of Representatives.