image source,Reuters
China’s Taiwan Navy drills begin at noon on Thursday
A day after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi) visited Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army conducted live-fire military exercises in six waters surrounding the island of Taiwan.
The “important military training operation” officially claimed by China began at 12:00 local time (4:00 GMT) on Thursday (August 4), and part of the scope was within 12 nautical miles around the island of Taiwan.
As of 1 p.m., Chinese official sources said that the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command conducted “long-range fire and live ammunition training” in the Taiwan Strait, conducted “precision strikes” on specific areas, and “achieved expected results.”
The unprecedented move by mainland China in Taiwan waters is also the largest military exercise to date against the island, which Beijing regards as a divided province of China. Taiwan said that mainland China is trying to change the status quo on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party said through a spokesman on Thursday that the military exercise by mainland China caused regional tensions and was not justified.
The move is seen as mainland China’s response to Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan. Following repeated warnings from Beijing and claims of no support from the White House, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives arrived in Taipei on Tuesday evening local time, stayed for 19 hours and met with Taiwan successively. Vice President of the Legislative Yuan Tsai Qichang and President Tsai Ing-wen.
In addition to the military exercise, Beijing also announced a series of measures to suspend trade with Taiwan after Pelosi arrived in Taiwan, and arrested a man on the mainland for engaging in “Taiwan independence” separatist activities.
image source,AFP
After Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China conducted a large-scale military exercise in the Taiwan Strait (the picture shows that before the exercise, Chinese military helicopters flew over Pingtan Island, which is one of the places closest to Taiwan in mainland China)
Taiwan has asked ships to change course since Wednesday and is discussing alternative air routes with Japan and the Philippines. Dozens of flights were cancelled at Taoyuan Airport.
Taipei’s Ministry of National Defense said earlier that the scope of the PLA’s military exercise “is like a sea and air blockade of Taiwan.”
On the night of Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan on Tuesday, there were already reports that PLA planes had flown over the “center line of the Taiwan Strait” — which has always been the unofficial border between mainland China and Taiwan, although Beijing has never acknowledged it.
On Thursday morning, Taiwanese authorities claimed that a Chinese drone flew over the island of Kinmen at midnight Wednesday, and the Taiwanese military fired a flare to disperse it.
At the same time, the Taiwanese government also said that several government department websites had been hacked.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the military drills in mainland China were irresponsible, warning they could spiral out of control.
Japan has expressed concern over China’s military drills, which it says touch on Japan’s exclusive economic zone — areas whose borders are disputed between Japan and its neighbors, and which Beijing claims to claim over some islands.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing did not accept the “so-called” Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Analysis: Unprecedented military exercise
——BBC reporter Fu Dongfei (Rupert Wingfield-Hayes) from Taiwan
Four days of military drills starting Thursday with six exclusion zones delineated around the island is a disturbing announcement. Beijing did the same thing in 1996, the last so-called “Taiwan Strait Crisis”. However, the restricted areas at that time were all outside Taiwan’s territorial waters.
This time, three of the six exclusion zones entered Taiwan’s 12-mile radius. This is unprecedented. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has claimed the move violated UN conventions, saying it would amount to a sea and air blockade of Taiwan.
If China were to move ships and planes into these areas, it would be tantamount to an invasion of Taiwan. This greatly increases the risk,
The US Navy is closely monitoring all of this, and the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group has moved to the Philippine Sea.