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The Asian giant resumed exercises in the area after a four-day pause as the People’s Liberation Army (Chinese army) organized live-fire war games around Taiwan from August 4 to 11 in reaction to Pelosi’s trip.
PLA spokesman Colonel Shi Yi announced Monday that the maneuvers are aimed at “resolutely defending national sovereignty”.
The exercises consist of a joint multi-service combat readiness patrol and an actual combat drill in the sea and airspace around the island of Taiwan.
These maneuvers are in addition to regular combat patrols that the Chinese military announced it would conduct in the waters surrounding Taiwan after winding up its maneuvers last week.
China prepares for war
China’s Defense Ministry, through its spokesman Wu Qian, stated that the PLA is training its troops “for war” in its eagerness to “crush any form of separatist scheme and foreign interference for an independent Taiwan.”
In addition, Wu stated that his country considers the U.S. lawmakers’ trip a “flagrant violation” of the “one China” principle advocated by Beijing.
This policy explains why the recent maneuvers “cover a larger area, involve more military elements, and are expected to be highly effective,” Chinese defense experts were quoted by local media as stating.
So far, the Chinese military’s maneuvers have included live fire and the launching of long-range missiles.
On the other hand, the Taiwanese military has begun to review and analyze the tactics employed by China in the recent exercises carried out in the vicinity of the island, the CNA news agency reported.
The objective of Taiwan’s armed forces is to analyze Chinese strategies in order to obtain useful references for its future military, in a context of a growing escalation of the conflict in the Taiwan Strait, a military source who requested anonymity told the agency.
The island’s response to the maneuvers carried out by China took the form of a series of exercises that began on 9 August and will continue on 24 August with tests carried out in the waters and airspace of northeastern and southwestern Taiwan.
The Taiwanese Defense Ministry also denounced the incursions on Monday of 30 Chinese planes and five Chinese military ships in areas surrounding the island, in addition to the 22 planes and six ships that did the same on Sunday, coinciding with the arrival of the delegation of U.S. congressmen.
Such incursions are not new in the Taiwan Strait but have increased since October last year, despite constant complaints from the island government and the United States.
