Amid looming doubts about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness, Taiwan is reporting Chinese military activity around the island nation. Taiwanese military detected Chinese fighter jets and warships near its territorial waters, Taiwan’s media reported Saturday.
Dozens of Chinese warplanes breached the Taiwanese air defense zone from multiple directions in last 24 hours. Taiwan’s “Ministry of National Defense (MND) tracked 30 Chinese military aircraft and nine naval vessels around Taiwan” between Friday morning and early Saturday, the news website Taiwan News reported. “Of the 30 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, 23 crossed the Taiwan Strait median line and entered the northern, southwestern, and southeastern air defense identification zone (ADIZ), according to the MND.”
The Chinese military provocation comes as Beijing works on advance battle plans to capture the island. In late May, the China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “two days of war games around Taiwan in which it simulated attacks with bombers and practiced boarding ships,” Reuters reported. “The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, whose forces carried out the drills, released a video on its social media accounts on Saturday called “A six-word rhyme on smashing independence”, set to stirring martial music.”
The war game was followed by a “joint combat readiness patrol” by Chinese fighter jets and warships near Taiwan. “There has been a significant increase in Chinese military flights since Thursday, according to Taipei, as Beijing conducted a “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island,” Germany’s DW TV reported June 24. “From Thursday to Sunday, Taiwan reported detecting 115 Chinese military aircraft in the vicinity, with some coming as close as 31 nautical miles (57 kilometers) from the island’s southern tip.”
The newspaper Taipei Times reported Saturday:
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported renewed Chinese military activity nearby with another “combat patrol,” as the government called on Beijing not to escalate tensions after the seizure of a Taiwanese fishing boat.On Tuesday, China Coast Guard officials boarded and detained a Taiwanese fishing boat for illegally operating in its waters, in what the head of the National Security Bureau on Thursday said might be an act of psychological warfare.The ministry said that starting just before 7am yesterday, it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” with Chinese warships.The Chinese aircraft flew into airspace to the north, center and southern part of Taiwan, the ministry said.In the 24 hours ending at 6am yesterday, the ministry said it had detected 36 Chinese warplanes and six naval vessels operating around the nation.The ministry said it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly.”At least 127 Chinese military aircraft operating nearby since the start of this month.
The Chinese military is also considering a blockade of the island nation, roughly the size of Maryland, by simply using drones. The “PLA has detailed a simulation of an island blockade using just drones,” The South China Morning Post newspaper reported Friday. “China’s military has the ability to impose and maintain a blockade on an island solely with drones, according to a study released by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) last month.”
The reports Chinese military build-up comes as Beijing vows to hunt down — and even execute — Taiwanese nationals who actively oppose island’s ‘unification’ with China. “Last week, announcing new legal guidelines, China threatened to execute Taiwan independence separatists in extreme cases, a further ramping up of tensions,” Singapore-based TV channel CNA reported June 27. “China has vowed to go after people it views as Taiwan separatists wherever they may be, though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan and it is not clear how China could seek to enforce any judgments outside its borders.”
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