Less than 24 hours after the President of the US Legislative Assembly visited Taiwan, Nancy PelosiChina began live-fire military maneuvers around the island, which Taipei described as a “blockade” and a “violation of its rights”, and which included the use of long-range missiles.
The maneuvers resulted in the closure of sea and air space in six areas around the island, one of them about 20 kilometers from the coast of Kaohsiung, the main city in southern China. Taiwan.
Rockets in the Strait
The exercise, which will last until Sunday, included long-range artillery fire practice using “several types of conventional missiles” off the US East Coast today. Taiwana mission in which the projectiles “hit the target accurately” and which was “successfully completed”, according to the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA, Army of China) Eastern Theater Command.
According to a spokesman for Shi Yi’s command, the exercise was aimed at “testing the accuracy” of the missiles and their “ability to displace from the air.”
Air and sea blockade off the west coast this afternoon Taiwan after “the artillery drill hit its targets,” Shi explained, without specifying whether he was referring to all the maneuvers announced before Sunday or just those on Thursday.
“Slipknot”
According to Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University quoted by the state-run CGTN network, the maneuvers were announced 38 hours in advance, allowing time for “the ships to adjust their routes” and ensuring that “no civilians were harmed.”
Although in recent years China hosted other war games in the strait TaiwanThis week they differ in that “they cover a larger area, include more military elements and are expected to be very effective,” Meng said.
The exercise is taking place in six zones around the island, one of which is about 20 km off the coast of Kaohsiung, the main city of the southern part of the island. Taiwana project that is intended to “create a kind of slip knot” that can be “tightened” to “contain separatist forces on the island,” the professor said.
Chinese military action is “necessary, just and decisive,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defended today, adding that it would serve as a “warning” to “provocateurs,” among whom she included “Taiwanese separatists.” “and those” external forces that interfere in internal affairs China”.
Taiwan won’t back down
Protective briefcase TaiwanAt the same time, he assured that he received “instant information” about the launch of missiles thanks to the tasks of “reconnaissance and surveillance”, while condemning the actions for “violating the peace in the region.”
A few hours before Taiwan recorded the infiltration of 27 Chinese military aircraft into an independent air defense (AD) identification zone, against which its army activated combat air patrols, issued radio warnings and deployed missile defense systems to monitor Chinese aircraft.
The Taiwanese ministry also said that last night, Taiwanese forces had to fire flares twice last night to scare off a Chinese military drone that was flying over the outskirts of Taipei-controlled Kinmen Islands (also known as Quemoi), despite being only 30 kilometers away. islands. , Southeast Chinese City Xiamen.
In recent decades, these islands have been bombarded by China when tensions between Taipei and the island reached their peak.
Taiwanese military officials have already warned that the maneuvers would amount to a “blockade of the island,” and their impact on air and sea traffic has been noted in recent hours.
Taoyuan Airport (north), the island’s most important airport, had at least 40 flights canceled this Thursday due to air traffic restrictions, according to Taiwanese media reports.
While the island’s Transportation Minister Wang Guocai explained that the ships’ journey “will take a few more hours” as they are forced to avoid hard-to-reach areas, he pointed out that the “cumulative impact” will be felt in the future if the Chinese military exercises are “stretched out” in time.
The island’s Ministry of Defense has assured that it is monitoring the area around ancient Formosa in response to the “irrational actions” of the Chinese army and that, although it does not want to “escalate” the situation, it will “not back down” in response to the “irrational actions” of the Chinese army. with regard to “security and sovereignty” Taiwan.
Although evidence on social media suggests that life in Taiwan proceeding normally, local authorities urged the population to take precautions: the city council of the capital Taipei today asked its residents to download a mobile application that shows more than 5,000 bomb shelters in the city.
China He claims sovereignty over the island and considers Taiwan a rebellious province, since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew from there in 1949 after losing a civil war against the Communists. (EFE)
Source: RPP
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