China deployed a record number of military aircraft, warships and coast guard vessels to encircle Taiwan on Monday (Oct 14) in its fourth round of large-scale military exercises in just over two years. Beijing also test-fired two missiles. “inside”a Taiwanese national security official said on condition of anonymity during a meeting the next day.
According to the latter, a “important part” The Chinese maneuvers at the beginning of the week, which lasted thirteen hours, were an exercise in blocking the island, Agence France-Presse reports. “If China really blocks the Taiwan Strait or Taiwan’s main ports, it will cause chaos in international trade”he warned.
Although the capacity of Chinese forces “As we move from exercises to war gradually escalating, we continue to believe that war is neither imminent nor inevitable.”added the Taiwanese official.
Observers considered Monday’s exercises to be a response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s speech on Thursday on the island’s National Day. Mr. Lai was committed to “resist annexation” Chinese from the island and “to the invasion of [sa] sovereignty ».
Following the visit of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to Taiwan in August 2022, China launched massive military exercises, with missiles sent over Taiwan.
China considers the island one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
