Just as China’s abrupt “zero COVID-19” policy U-turn presents a risk to international public health, the military drills it has launched around Taiwan show that it continues to pose a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.
After deploying 78 aircraft and ships in the airspace and waters around Taiwan at the end of last month, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command launched joint combat strike drills on Sunday. Within 24 hours, the PLA had sent 57 warplanes and four ships toward Taiwan, with 28 of the aircraft crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The PLA issued a statement saying the drills were “aimed at testing the PLA’s combat capability in the face of a series of provocations from external and Taiwan independence forces.”
The drills have been interpreted as a response to the passage of the US’ Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which stipulates military aid to Taiwan and declares Taipei a non-NATO partner. They have also been deemed a warning to new US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy not to visit Taiwan, after he vowed to do so.
There is also speculation that the drills were launched in protest of a German parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. Beijing previously lodged a complaint after the German government’s policy guidelines mentioned Taiwan for the first time and said Berlin opposes altering the cross-strait “status quo” through non-peaceful means.
China’s military incursions are simply pretexts to prepare for its long-planned invasion of Taiwan and distract attention from domestic issues, including a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) last month said that Beijing would keep coming up with new excuses to hold drills as it prepares for an attack on Taiwan, especially after the Chinese Communist Party in October granted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a third term in office.
On Monday, while the latest Chinese drills were under way, official delegations from Germany, Lithuania, Paraguay and Tuvalu were in Taipei to show their support for Taiwan’s democracy and prosperity.
Free Democratic Party (FDP) deputy chair Johannes Vogel, the joint leader of the German delegation, said that “Germany would like to send China a message that military intimidation is not acceptable” and that the visit aims to “demonstrate Germany’s massive support for Taiwan.”
Taiwan last year saw a marked increase in the number of visits by foreign delegations, especially after China launched a military drill surrounding Taiwan in August. More than 50 countries have condemned China’s military coercion, and reiterated support for Taiwan’s democracy and maintaining the “status quo.”
The US Congress has passed more than 80 pro-Taiwan resolutions — a record — and European countries and the EU Parliament have proposed 30 resolutions to enhance relations with Taiwan.
Former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited Taiwan last week, calling on European countries to help Taipei deter a possible Chinese attack by conducting joint military exercises.
The US approved eight arms sales packages to Taiwan and Japan in its latest national defense paper, highlighting Taipei as an extremely important geopolitical partner.
Japan is also planning to reorganize the deployment of its defense forces, and build new bomb shelters and an infantry base in Okinawa as it seeks to take a more offensive stance to ensure stability in the Taiwan Strait.
China’s drills that seek to intimidate Taiwan and its partners have backfired, exposing Xi’s lie of “peaceful unification across the Strait” and inspiring greater urgency among democratic allies.
A nation has several pillars of national defense, among them are military strength, energy and food security, and national unity. Military strength is very much on the forefront of the debate, while several recent editorials have dealt with energy security. National unity and a sense of shared purpose — especially while a powerful, hostile state is becoming increasingly menacing — are problematic, and would continue to be until the nation’s schizophrenia is properly managed. The controversy over the past few days over former navy lieutenant commander Lu Li-shih’s (呂禮詩) usage of the term “our China” during an interview about his attendance
Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), the son of former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Politburo member and former Chongqing Municipal Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), used his British passport to make a low-key entry into Taiwan on a flight originating in Canada. He is set to marry the granddaughter of former political heavyweight Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政), the founder of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東). Bo Xilai is a former high-ranking CCP official who was once a challenger to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the chairmanship of the CCP. That makes Bo Guagua a bona fide “third-generation red”
Following the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia, last month, media outlets circulated familiar narratives about Russia and China’s plans to dethrone the US dollar and build a BRICS-led global order. Each summit brings renewed buzz about a BRICS cross-border payment system designed to replace the SWIFT payment system, allowing members to trade without using US dollars. Articles often highlight the appeal of this concept to BRICS members — bypassing sanctions, reducing US dollar dependence and escaping US influence. They say that, if widely adopted, the US dollar could lose its global currency status. However, none of these articles provide
US president-elect Donald Trump earlier this year accused Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) of “stealing” the US chip business. He did so to have a favorable bargaining chip in negotiations with Taiwan. During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump demanded that European allies increase their military budgets — especially Germany, where US troops are stationed — and that Japan and South Korea share more of the costs for stationing US troops in their countries. He demanded that rich countries not simply enjoy the “protection” the US has provided since the end of World War II, while being stingy with
RSS