Tensions rise again on the Taiwan Strait. A few hours after Emmanuel Macron’s departure for France, China has launched three days of military exercises around the island. The announcement came from the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, which called the tests “Joint Sword” and also spoke of alert patrols for the encirclement of Taiwan. Beijing called it a “severe warning” of “collusion” between Taipei and the United States, referring to the meeting in California between President Tsai Ing-wen and Congressional Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command, said the maneuvers would take place “in the north and south of Taiwan, and in the sea and airspace east of Taiwan.” The exact place of the exercises was not specified, but the mind immediately went to last August to the impressive exercises that followed the visit of Nancy Pelosi, the previous speaker of the American Congress before McCarthy.
As of the end of the first day, the Taipei Defense Ministry reports that it has detected a total of 9 warships and 71 jets in the waters around Taiwan. Among the planes, 45 crossed the “median line”, an unrecognized but widely respected border until last August. Long-range rockets, ships, fighter jets and conventional missiles were deployed in operations on the first day, according to Chinese state media. But the aircraft carrier Shandong is also mentioned, which in recent days had been seen crossing the Bashi Strait, which separates southern Taiwan from the northern Philippines. To then position itself about 370 kilometers east of the Taiwanese coast, in the eastern Pacific.
According to information from Beijing, the first day’s exercises focused on “the ability to take control of the sea, air and information”. But other types of weapons and equipment, including aircraft and bombers for electronic warfare, are also expected to participate in the next couple of days.
At the same time, a cycle of live fire exercises was also announced from the neighboring coasts in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian, the province bordering the Strait. It is an area very close to the Matsu archipelago, very close to the coasts of the People’s Republic but administered by Taipei. The tests will be carried out intermittently until April 20. More attention on the other live fire exercises scheduled for Monday 10 April on the island of Pingtan, directly overlooking the Strait. A few missiles were launched from there last August.
If the exercises are completed on schedule, they will fit perfectly with Xi Jinping’s diplomatic agenda, given that Brazilian President Lula arrives in Beijing on Tuesday 11 April. Thursday 13 will instead be the turn of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the European Union, Josep Borrell. Still on Tuesday 11, however, the arrival of an Italian parliamentary delegation in Taiwan is expected.