New tensions between China and the United States. They do not concern the Russian war in Ukraine this time while Washington suspects Beijing of wanting to help Moscow and threatens China with reprisals if such a scenario were to emerge. They concern Taiwan, this democratic and autonomous island claimed by Beijing, which has always expressed its desire to seize it one day, by force if necessary.
Provocation
This Saturday, the day following a meeting on Friday between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping during which the Chinese president also invited his American counterpart to put bilateral relations between China and the United States “on the right track” and stressed that t behooves Beijing and Washington to assume their responsibilities by working together for world peace, the tone has risen a notch on the highly sensitive subject of Taiwan. In question, the presence on March 17 in the Taiwan Strait which separates the island from China, of an American destroyer. A “provocation” for the Chinese army which deplores a “very dangerous” behavior because it sends harmful signals to the separatists.
US Navy ships crossed the strait nearly once a month last year, much to the anger of Beijing, which accuses Washington of stoking tensions in the region. In an email to AFP, the US Department of Defense confirmed that one “of (its) destroyers” had crossed the Taiwan Strait on Friday. But the US warship was not the only one sailing through the Taiwan Strait. The Shandong, a Chinese aircraft carrier, was also there, according to the Taiwanese and American defense ministries.
During his meeting yesterday with Xi Jinping, Joe Biden reaffirmed the opposition of the United States to any “change of status quo” on Taiwan, the target of Chinese territorial ambitions, according to the White House. The United States undertakes to recognize only one China. Taiwan therefore has no formal diplomatic relations with the United States, which does not prevent the latter from being its main international support and from selling many arms to Taipei.
The Taiwan Strait, an international maritime zone for Washington
The Taiwan Strait is an eminently sensitive area. The United States, Taiwan’s main ally, considers the strait an international maritime zone and has sent warships to the area to carry out operations to defend “freedom of navigation”. Under the Biden administration, Washington has lent its support to Taipei, approving at least two arms deals to the island to bolster its air and missile defense systems to respond to warplane incursions. Chinese. Beijing considers that this support “seriously compromises” relations between the United States and China. China has massively boosted its strike force in recent years, sending 969 warplanes to Taiwan’s air defense zone in 2020, according to an AFP compilation, more than twice as many as the 380 planes reported in 2016.
Beijing increases incursions into the Taiwan Strait
Warship movements in the 180 km wide Taiwan Strait are not uncommon. Last year, Beijing stepped up incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, particularly in response to visits by senior US officials to the island. In February, Xi Jinping ordered all military units to conduct “combat-oriented drills” and improve their “combat-combat” capabilities.
The reinforcement of the Chinese army arouses recurring mistrust from neighboring nations, fueled by a lack of transparency on what exactly the military budget covers. China thus claims its sovereignty in the South China Sea (vis-à-vis Vietnam and the Philippines in particular), in the East China Sea (on the Senkaku Islands controlled by Japan) as well as in the Himalayas (facing the ‘India). The United States regularly sends warships to the South China Sea to thwart Beijing’s territorial claims there, but also near Taiwan to support local leaders. In this context, the Beijing army is continuing its modernization with the aim of catching up with Washington’s technological advance.
