Taipei, Taiwan (AP) – The Chinese army has announced large -scale exercises in waters and airspace Taiwan Tuesday, which includes a group of battle of the aircraft carrier, because it still warned the island democracy self-strict against the search for formal independence.
The joint exercises involve naval, air and rocket forces and are supposed to be a “severe warning and an energetic confinement against Taiwan’s independence”, according to Shi Yi, spokesperson for the oriental theater of the Popular Liberation Army. No operational name for the exercises has been announced or a previous notice.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory, as under its control by force if necessary, while most Taiwanese promote their de facto independence and their democratic status. Any conflict could bring the United States, which maintains a series of alliances in the region and is legally required to deal with Taiwan threats as a question of “serious concern”.
The Taiwan presidential office declared in a message on the social platform X that “the flagrant military provocations of China threatened not only peace in the #Taiwan Strait but also undermine security throughout the region, as evidenced by the exercises near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and the SCS. We strongly condemn the climbing behavior of China. »»
The SCS refers to the Southern China Sea, the strategic navigable way that China almost claims in its entirety. The Chinese navy also recently organized exercises near Australia and New Zealand for which it has given no warning, forcing the reaches of the last minute of commercial flights.
The Taiwan Ministry of National Defense said that he had followed 19 Chinese navy ships in the waters surrounding the island in a period of 24 hours from 6 am to 6 am on Tuesday.
He added that he had followed the Shandong aircraft carrier movement since Saturday and that his group of carriers had entered the Taiwan air defense identification area, a self-defined area followed by the army. China regularly sends military assets to the area, which China does not recognize, but Taiwanese officials recently warned that China could launch a sneaky attack under the cover of military exercises.
“I mean that these actions amply reflect the destruction (of China) of regional peace and stability,” said Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo.
Taiwan has created a central response group to monitor the last years, Koo said.
In the streets of Taipei, people declared that the atmosphere was tense, but they were more concerned with the economy and the developments surrounding the administration of US President Donald Trump.
“The Chinese Communists devote so much time and effort to these things, but most people do not pay much attention,” said Lin Hui-Tsung, a noodle seller in the city’s Tiananmu district.
The Chinese Coast Guard also announced that it was making a “law application patrol on Tuesday” around Taiwan, said its spokesperson Zhu Anqin.
Exercises come only two weeks after a large -scale exercise in mid-March, When Beijing has sent a large number of drones and ships to the island.
The Chinese Taiwan Business Office said that the exercises had headed for Lai Ching-Te, a strongly pro-independence president of Taiwan.
“Lai Ching-Te stubbornly insists on a position of” Taiwan’s independence “, cheaply qualifying the continent as a” foreign hostile force “, and presented a so-called” 17-point strategy … moving anti-china feelings “”, we will not tolerate or tolerate or do not condonne these actions.
In mid-March, the Taiwan lai proposed a 17-point strategy aimed at strengthening the national security of Taiwan. The points include allowing espionage affairs by military courts and making the rules of immigration strict for Chinese citizens who ask for a permanent residence.
Lai’s words and actions seem to have particularly angry the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, whose attempts at previous intimidation had little effect on the Taiwanese public. These have often been timed in response to the expressions of Taiwanese independence, including a visit by the head of the American room, Nancy Pelosi.
The APL of China has also published a series of videos to publicize their military exercise, including one in which they portray Lai as a green parasitic “poisoning” by emitting smaller parasites. The video shows Lai’s head on the body of a bulbous green green, with a pair of baguettes picking it and roasting it on a flame on Taiwan.
Beijing sends war planes and navy ships Towards the island daily, seeking to exhaust the Taiwanese defenses and morale, although the vast majority of the 23 million people on the island reject its demand for sovereignty on Taiwan. In recent years, it has intensified the scope and scale of these exercises, from the sending of small individual fighters and surveillance planes to aircraft, drone and ship groups.
“The APL has organized naval and air forces to practice subjects such as sea and land strikes, focusing on the test of the capacity of troops to make precision strikes on certain key targets of the Taiwan authorities in several directions,” said Zhang Chi, professor at China University Defense of the National Defense University.
Taiwan and China separated in the middle of the civil war 76 years ago, but Tensions have increased Since 2016, when China has cut almost all contacts with Taipei.
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Wu reported in Bangkok. Christopher Bodeen contributed to this Taipei report, Taiwan.
