The situation in democratic Taiwan escalated over the Easter weekend. Beijing has let its military try taking out key targets on the island. Fighter jets flew over the border between the two countries over the Taiwan Strait, the island being blocked by the Chinese navy. The United States urged Beijing to exercise restraint and said it had sufficient resources to maintain peace in the region. This means nothing other than Washington would intervene should the army, which reports directly to Xi Jinping, make its threat serious and bomb targets on the island.
Xi Jinping recently put his army on alert and called several times to prepare for war. Western IP addresses have not reached Chinese state websites for several weeks, which an analysis by Foreign Affairs magazine took as evidence that preparations for war were already in full swing. In addition, the Chinese army is recruiting new soldiers all over the country, even though the “People’s Liberation Army” is already the largest army in the world with over two million warriors.
Ruler Xi seeks escalation after US-Taiwan meetings
A recently completed law amendment would allow the Chinese army to hold trials against those who oppose annexation and union with the People’s Republic after conquering Taiwan. According to Foreign Affairs, this could target Taiwan’s democratic politicians, who could even be liquidated in this case.
Xi waited with his action until the two top European politicians, Macron and von der Leyen, had left Beijing. Both have tried to oblige the Chinese president not to supply arms to Russia. Tsai and McCarthy’s meeting coincided with the visit.
Beijing says the current military special operation is in retaliation for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Actually, the two met in the USA and not in Taiwan, to signal goodwill to Beijing and not to let the situation escalate. But ruler Xi is looking for this escalation.
Xi Jinpings “Crime-Moment”
His military said that the current maneuver was intended to make an example of the “separatist forces” in Taiwan. In fact, the democratically elected Progressive Democratic Party government has done nothing to change Taiwan’s status since taking office in 2016. Rather, it is Xi Jinping who has made “reunification” with Taiwan a key policy objective.
Spurred on by the successful crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, the ruler has since spoken more and more often about annexing the island, over which the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled. The events in the formerly free and semi-autonomous trading metropolis were Xi JInping’s “Crimea moment”. The international community has not opposed Xi’s breach of contract and the law.
Xi now seems to believe he can also take Taiwan without opposition. The United States, in turn, has learned from the actual failure after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and today sent Beijing a clear response in response.
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In an emergency, Taiwan must hope for support from the USA
According to media reports, the people of Taiwan have so far been unimpressed by the renewed naval blockade of their island by the war-ready Beijing. In response, Tsai Ing-wen had already increased compulsory military service from four months to one year. Last summer, a record number of people signed up for emergency courses designed to prepare for natural disasters or military conquest.
Should China get serious, blockading the island and at the same time bombing strategically important points on the island, the army and civilian population would have to act together, as in Ukraine, against the invaders and hope that US troops in neighboring Okinawa will be there quickly. The news from and for Taiwan is anything but good this Easter weekend.
