In this photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, fighter jets from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theater of operations conduct training exercises near the island of Taiwan on Aug. 8, 2022. GONG YULONG /AP
Concerned about rapprochement between Taiwan and the United States, China announced Sunday, December 25, that it had held military exercises near the island. The number of devices mobilized was not specified, nor was the exact location of these maneuvers.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “conducted joint combat readiness patrols and joint strike exercises with multiple services in the sea and airspace around the island of Taiwan,” said Shi Yi, spokesman for the Eastern Theater of Operations. “This is a firm response to the growing collusion between the United States and the Taiwanese authorities and their provocations,” he said in a statement.
China considers Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, to be one of its provinces that it has not successfully reunified with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. She is dissatisfied with the rapprochement at work in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States, which has militarily supported the island against Beijing for several decades.
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“This behavior by the Chinese Communist Party once again underscores its mentality of using violence to settle disputes and undermine regional peace and stability,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement. “Cooperation between Taiwan and the United States contributes to freedom, openness, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
From earlier exercises in August
The rapprochement between Washington and Taiwan, begun under former US President Donald Trump, has helped strain Sino-US relations. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed “firm resistance” after the passage of a US defense law, the “National Defense Authorization Act”, under which the US primarily released 10 billion dollars in military aid and arms sales to Taiwan.
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In August, the PLA held major military exercises in an unprecedented show of force in retaliation for the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island. Chinese diplomacy saw the gesture as a provocation because the United States officially pledged to recognize the communist government in Beijing as China’s sole legitimate representative.
Chinese authorities favor the option of “peaceful reunification” but have never refrained from using force to seize Taiwan, especially if the island were to declare independence.
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