Beijing conducts naval exercise and deploys warships as Taiwanese government puts its military on edge
Adjectives pile up for Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan: historic, imminent, but still hypothetical; as hypothetical is also a military response from China. Everything indicates that the president of the US House of Representatives will arrive on the island this Tuesday evening. The expected clash between the incumbent and the emerging might be a matter of hours.
Pelosi embarked on an Asian tour in Singapore on Monday that will take her to Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. However, it is not known whether the list of destinations will also include Taiwan. This possibility, leaked to various international media two weeks ago, has since heightened tensions between the two most powerful countries in the world. If so, it would be the US’s highest-ranking representative in 25 years and at a critical juncture.
The foreign press has reiterated (citing US and Taiwanese government sources) that Pelosi will land in Taipei at 10:30 PM (local time). His predictable agenda includes an early morning meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen before he leaves the island. At present, the military plane carrying her has taken off from Kuala Lumpur shortly before 4 p.m. with an unknown destination.
Before this journey turned into a flash, China has launched its most confrontational rhetoric with deterrent purposes. “We are closely following President Pelosi’s itinerary,” said spokeswoman Hua Chunying a few minutes ago during the daily press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “If the United States continues down this wrong path, we will take serious and decisive action to ensure our sovereignty and security.”
“Since the news broke, many personalities in the United States have publicly stated that Pelosi’s visit would be stupid and unnecessary, a dangerous gamble. It’s hard to imagine anything more brutal and provocative than this.” “It could have disastrous consequences for the Taiwan region, as well as for the prosperity and order of the entire world.”
The issue was one of the most discussed topics during Joe Biden and Xi Jinping’s phone call last week, leading the Chinese leader to warn that “whoever plays with fire will burn himself.” In recent hours, the official media of the Asian giant has equated the current situation with the missile crisis that in 1962 put the United States and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear war because of another island, Cuba, in the presence of that country. Soviet armament.
Also foreign spokesman Zhao Lijian has stated that the People’s Liberation Army “will not remain unmoved”. This weekend, Chinese armed forces conducted live firing maneuvers on the coast of Fujian, across Formosa Strait, justified by the 95th anniversary of the corps’ founding.
Images shared on social networks show tanks and assault vehicles on the beaches of Xiamen, an exercise aimed at “examining the expanded combat capability in complex conditions,” in the words of the Provincial Military Command. China has also relocated its two aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong. Earlier today, several military aircraft flew near the median line in Taiwan’s air identification zone, Reuters reported. A Chinese army destroyer is still at anchor about 80 kilometers off the coast of Lanyu Island, southeast of the island.
Faced with this threat, the self-governed area has mobilized its own planes to monitor the situation. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry has put its military on high alert, so its troops will be in combat mode until Thursday.
This critical situation comes as diplomatic relations between the United States and China are at their worst since their founding in 1972, having been dragged into the field of open clashes in recent years. In parallel with this process, US representatives of increasing rank visited Taiwan, and on three occasions Joe Biden assured that his country would defend the island against a Chinese invasion.
These are also particularly sensitive dates for the regime’s domestic politics, as there are only a few months left before the celebration of the XX Congress of the Communist Party, a five-year appointment during which Xi will hold himself in power as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. This will confirm the authoritarian regression that the Asian giant has experienced since taking the reins in 2012, a process that has exacerbated rivalries on both sides of the Pacific. Whatever the future is, it’s about to come.
Source: La Verdad
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