According to Beijing, Monday should be the last day of military exercises in the immediate vicinity of Taiwan. According to the BBC, the maneuvers have not yet reached the dimensions of the exercises since last August, which followed a visit to the island by the then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
So far, at least 70 Chinese aircraft and 11 ships have been spotted in the immediate vicinity of the island, according to a statement from Taiwan Monday morning. According to the BBC, the Chinese exercises last year after Pelosi’s visit were more powerful, and China also fired ballistic missiles at the waters near the island.
This time the exercise came shortly after a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Jing-wen and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. It happened last week in the US.
According to the flight paths of Chinese aircraft published by the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, this time the fighters were approaching the island from the eastern side, which indicates, according to the BBC, that the Chinese army is rehearsing attacks from the opposite direction of the Chinese. mainland for the first time ever.
According to analysts, these may have been fighter jets that arrived from the aircraft carrier Shandong, which China has also openly reported on its participation. In addition, Beijing announced that the planes carried out “simulated attacks on important targets with live fire.”
Washington has repeatedly called on China to exercise restraint. She had already warned before the Taiwanese president’s visit to the United States that if the meeting with McCarthy took place, “decisive countermeasures” would be taken.
The United States responded to the exercises by sending the destroyer Milius to the South China Sea. The Navy said the ship had exercised its right of freedom of navigation there. China later called it an “illegal” move.
China regards Taiwan as its province and calls for the rest of the sentence not to create the impression that it recognizes the independence of the island, for example by dealing with Taiwanese representatives. Beijing said on Monday that Taiwan independence and peace are mutual. The island has been de facto independent since 1949 and has its own government. However, most of the world does not officially consider it independent. This also applies to the United States of America, which is nevertheless the largest ally of the island and supplies it with weapons, among other things.
