Sao Paulo
China admitted on Wednesday (27) that it had intensified its military drills around Taiwan this month, justifying the actions as a response to the “arrogance” of the island’s leaders. China’s Defense Ministry leaderless since the disappearance of its chief Li Shangfu earlier this month had not yet commented on the matter, even after Taipei claimed to have spotted 103 Chinese military aircraft flying over its territory on Day 17.
“Our goal is to resolutely combat the arrogance of the separatist forces,” Zhu Fenglian, spokesman for the regime’s Taipei office, said in a meeting with reporters in Beijing. This week’s Chinese actions precede the launch of the first of eight Taiwanese submarines, scheduled for this Thursday.
According to Zhu, the People’s Liberation Army’s recent actions, which included ordering dozens of fighter jets, bombers, drones and other aircraft to approach the island, as well as warships and the aircraft carrier Shandong, are merely responses to the recurring “provocations in defense of.” “Taiwan’s Independence” by the island’s leaders. Beijing considers Taipei an autonomous territory whose government is democratically elected a rebel province and promises to retake it by force if necessary.]
This Wednesday alone, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense reported that it had identified 16 more Chinese aircraft that had entered its airspace. Of these, 12 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the unofficial border between the mainland and the province.
The notional border has been crossed frequently by China since tensions with Taipei peaked in August last year. At the time, thenUS House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the island was viewed as a provocation by the Chinese, who responded by feigning a “total siege” of the territory.
At an anniversary event for his party, the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), also this Wednesday, the island’s vice president and leader of the presidential race, William Lai, said that the situation in the Strait did not appear to have improved with the passage of time.
China cares deeply about Lai’s candidacy. Although he has reiterated that he has no intention of changing the status quo and has made himself available to the mainland for dialogue, he is a historic defender of Taiwan’s independence.
Tensions in the South China Sea
The confrontation between the Chinese and the island is one of many conflicts that have mobilized the increasingly unstable region. Also on Wednesday, Beijing said it would reassert its sovereignty in an area of the South China Sea it disputes with the Philippines.
The Xi Jinpingled nation days ago installed a floating barrier to prevent Filipino fishing vessels from reaching an area called Scarborough Shoal. But the archipelago destroyed the obstacle.
The conflict with Manila comes less than a month after Beijing released a new map of its borders, with a broader outline including several disputed areas. The Asian giant claims 90% of the South China Sea, overlapping the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, as well as the Philippines.
Several of their Asian neighbors said sharply that the document was unfounded and accused the Chinese of being expansive.