China today began military maneuvers around Taiwan as a “serious warning” after expressing its discomfort over a stopover in the United States by the vice president of the government of that island, William Lai.
Lai, a favorite in next year’s presidential election and a fervent opponent of Beijing’s claims to the island, stopped in New York on his way to Paraguay, where he went for the swearing-in ceremony of the new president Santiago Peña, and stopped in San Francis upon his return.
The Government of China, which opposes the international contacts of the Taiwanese leaders, had warned that it would take “firm and forceful measures to safeguard national sovereignty.”
In this sense, the island’s Ministry of Defense indicated in the last hours “42 aircraft of the People’s Liberation Army were detected,” according to a statement replicated by the AFP news agency.
He also stated that eight Chinese ships were participating in these maneuvers, which, according to Chinese state media, are intended to simulate “real combat conditions.”
The Taiwanese military “is monitoring and using reconnaissance methods to strictly control” the situation, added the ministry, which deployed aircraft and ships.
Earlier, the Chinese military had announced the deployment of “joint air and sea patrols and military exercises by the navy and the air force around the island of Taiwan.”
In a statement from the Armed Forces, replicated by the local Xinhua news agency, it was explained that “the patrols and exercises serve as a serious warning against the collusion of the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists with foreign elements and their provocations. “.
“We strongly oppose any visit by ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists to the United States, under any name or under any pretext,” the text explained.
The situation between China and Taiwan worsened in August last year as a result of the visit to the island of the then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, which the Asian giant considered a provocation and to which it responded with the announcement of four days of military exercises.
The White House has distanced itself from Pelosi’s controversial trip to the island that China claims as its own, arguing that the leader makes her own decisions.
Last April, China staged three days of military exercises simulating a blockade operation on the island after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met in California. , despite warnings from Beijing.
Washington diplomatically recognizes China over Taiwan, but maintains de facto relations with Taipei and supports the island’s right to decide its future.
China considers Taiwan – where Chinese nationalists fled after their defeat in a civil war by communists in 1949 – a province that must be reunified.
Links between Taiwan, home to 23 million people, and mainland China were only restored at the business and informal level in the late 1980s.
Tensions between the island and the mainland have grown to their highest level in recent years, not only through diplomatic exchanges, but also military exercises in the area.
Source: Ambito
