Beijing, China.- China simulated attacks on “key targets” in Taiwan today, on the second day of military exercises scheduled to run until Monday, in response to the meeting between the Taiwanese President and the leader of the US House of Representatives.
The Chinese army simulated “precision strikes” against “key targets on the island of Taiwan and in the surrounding waters” involving dozens of planes and ground troops, the Asian country’s state television said.
Beijing said that destroyers, speedboats and fighter planes, among others, are being mobilized in the maneuvers, which will last until Monday.
The military exercises began after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday.
Beijing promised to respond to the meeting with “firm and forceful” measures.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry spotted 11 Chinese warships and 70 planes around the island on Sunday, after spotting as many the day before.
The ministry said it was responding to the maneuvers “calmly and calmly” and explained that the warplanes detected as of 4:00 p.m. local time included fighters and bombers.
The maneuvers are intended to establish China’s ability to “take control of the sea, airspace and information (…) to create a deterrence and a total encirclement” of Taiwan, Chinese state television said on Saturday.
Taiwan and the United States denounced the operation, called “Joint Sword”, and asked Beijing for “restraint” while ensuring that they kept their communication channels with China open.
“I’m a little worried, I’d be lying if I said otherwise,” Donald Ho, 73, told AFP in a Taipei park on Sunday.
“If there is war, both sides will suffer a lot,” he added.
“serious warning”
China regards the island of Taiwan, population 23 million, as one of its provinces that has yet to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the civil war in 1949.
The exercises “serve as a serious warning against collusion between separatist forces seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and outside forces,” said a Chinese military spokesman, Shi Yi.
Washington on Saturday reiterated its call “not to change the status quo.”
“We are confident that we have sufficient resources and capabilities in the region to ensure peace and stability,” the State Department said.
The Chinese government announced that it will conduct live-fire exercises on Monday in the Taiwan Strait, near the coast of Fujian, a province located off the island, according to local maritime authorities.
The exercises, which have an “operational” dimension, are intended to demonstrate that the Chinese military will be ready “if provocations intensify” to “resolve the Taiwan issue once and for all,” military expert Song told AFP. Zhongping.
“authoritarian expansionism”
The AFP did not verify on Sunday an increase in military activities on the north coast of the island of Pingtan, in the province of Fujian, near where the exercises with live fire are to be carried out.
Along a road near the coast, Lin Ren played the Chinese anthem while selling coffee from behind a car.
“I think (the exercises) clearly show that we have the means (…) to unify” the territory, the 29-year-old told AFP.
President Tsai on Saturday denounced China’s “authoritarian expansionism” and assured that Taiwan “will continue to work with the United States and other countries (…) to uphold the values of freedom and democracy.”
China is unhappy with the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which, despite the absence of official relations, provides the island with significant military support.
In August, China conducted unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan and fired missiles in response to a visit to the island by Democrat Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy’s predecessor in the House of Representatives.
The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China in 1979 and, in theory, should not have any official contact with the ROC (Taiwan) under the “one China principle” advocated by Beijing.
