Russia sends two frigates to Taiwan: what will happen?

Russia has sent two frigates near Taiwan in a rare move that could escalate tensions in the region. “At 2300 yesterday, two Russian frigates were detected sailing south-north east of our territorial waters, leaving our response area from the Suao Sea to the southeast,” Colonel Sun Li-fang said. Taiwan Ministry of Defense spokesman. The military “used joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods to grasp the dynamics of Russian ships and sent aircraft, ships and ground-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation.”
The unusual Russian intrusion has matured in a delicate moment, when China has intensified its pressure on Taiwan, considered an “inalienable” part of its territory, to be reunified even by force, if necessary. At the same time, the move aroused greater surprise as confidence in Moscow’s political power and stability was shaken by the dramatic uprising (later subsided) promoted over the weekend against the Kremlin by the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Moscow has become more politically aligned with Beijing in recent years, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022. Just weeks before the aggression, President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Vladimir Putin had declared a friendship “without limits” between the two countries. The forces of the Russian Pacific Fleet held a round of exercises in the waters of the Sea of ​​Japan and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from June 5 to 20, according to a statement by the Defense Ministry. The operations involved more than 60 warships and support vessels, approximately 35 naval aviation aircraft, coastal troops and over 11,000 military personnel.