Taipei said on Saturday it detected 13 aircraft and three warships near the island, 130 kilometers from the Chinese coast.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted update
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The Chinese army announced Saturday, April 8 exercises of “combat readiness” in the Taiwan Strait, once morest a backdrop of tensions with the island, following a meeting in the United States of its president Tsai Ing-wen and the third figure of the American state. “The People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command will hold a readiness exercise in the Taiwan Strait, the northern and southern parts of the island, and the airspace around the island from April 8 to 10. ‘east of the island of Taiwan’says a statement from the Chinese military.
These military exercises are a “warning” to “separatist forces” in Taiwan, warned Chinese army spokesman Shi Yi bluntly. They “serve as a serious warning once morest collusion between separatist forces seeking “Taiwan independence” and external forces, as well as their provocative activities”. These maneuvers will also include “police patrols”adds the document.
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The exact location of these exercises, which must therefore end on Monday, is not specified. The Chinese army, however, specified that it would hold live-fire exercises on the third day, near the coast of Fujian (east), the province facing the island. The affected area is around Pingtan, the closest point in mainland China to Taiwan, according to coordinates released Friday by maritime authorities in Fujian. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday it detected 13 aircraft and three warships around the island. The narrowest part of the strait between the Chinese coast and Taiwan is regarding 130 kilometers wide.
Unprecedented military maneuvers
For several days, China has reinforced the presence of its coastguards in the strait for exceptional patrols. On Saturday morning in Pingtan, the closest point to Taiwan in southeast China, tourists watched the choppy waters of the sea but no notable military activity was visible. On Friday, AFP journalists on the spot saw a military ship and at least two military helicopters passing through the Taiwan Strait. It was unclear, however, whether the moves represented an increase in the usual number of Chinese patrols in the area.
In August, Beijing launched unprecedented military maneuvers around Taiwan when Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who preceded Kevin McCarthy to roost, visited the island. The response at this stage to the meeting with the American number three has nothing to compare with the summer of 2022. It does, however, put Taipei on high alert.
“Absolute red line”
China considers the island, with a population of 23 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war. Ended in 1949, the conflict pitted the Communists, who finally took power in mainland China, once morest the Nationalist army, forced to withdraw to the island.
Chinese authorities have sought to diplomatically isolate Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016 because she is a member of a party that has traditionally campaigned for independence – an absolute red line for Beijing. After its meeting on Wednesday in the United States with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, China on Thursday and Friday sent warships, a helicopter and a fighter jet to the Taiwan Strait.
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