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China wants to complete the largest military exercises to date in Taiwan

#China #complete #largest #military #exercises #date #Taiwan

China will wrap up its biggest-ever military drills around Taiwan on Sunday, following a controversial visit by US leader Nancy Pelosi to the self-governing island.

Beijing has fumed over Pelosi’s trip – the second in line to succeed the US presidency – which has ripped through a series of talks and cooperation agreements with Washington, particularly on climate change and defense cooperation.

It has also stationed warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles around Taiwan in what analysts have described as exercising a blockade and eventual invasion of the island.

Those drills are due to conclude on Sunday, although Beijing has announced new drills in the Yellow Sea – between China and the Korean peninsula – to take place by August 15.

On Saturday, China deployed “several batches” of planes and ships into the Taiwan Strait, Taipei authorities said, some of which crossed a demarcation line dividing the waters, which Beijing does not recognize.

“It was believed that they were conducting a simulation of an attack on Taiwan’s main island,” the Taipei Defense Ministry said.

In response, the Democratic Island’s military mobilized air and land patrols and deployed land-based missile systems, the ministry said.

As of 17:00 local time (0900 GMT), Taiwan’s army said that “20 communist planes and 14 ships were spotted in the waters around Taiwan conducting joint air-sea exercises.”

– “A Dangerous Enemy” –

To show how close China’s armed forces have come to Taiwan’s shores, the Beijing military released video of an air force pilot filming the island’s coast and mountains from his cockpit.

And the Chinese Army’s Eastern Command shared a photo it said was taken of a warship patrolling at sea near Taiwan, with the island’s shoreline visible in the background.

Beijing also fired ballistic missiles over Taiwan’s capital during the drills, according to Chinese state media.

Taipei has remained defiant despite China’s saber-rattling, insisting it will not be intimidated by its “evil neighbor”.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday urged Beijing to “immediately stop stoking tensions and taking provocative measures to intimidate the Taiwanese people.”

But experts have warned that the drills reveal an increasingly emboldened Chinese military capable of conducting a grueling blockade of the self-governing island and preventing American forces from coming to its aid.

“In some areas, the PLA could even surpass US capabilities,” Grant Newsham, a former US Navy officer, told AFP, referring to China’s military by its official name.

“If the battle is confined to the area immediately around Taiwan, today’s Chinese navy is a dangerous opponent – and if for some reason the Americans and Japanese don’t intervene, it will be difficult for Taiwan.”

– ‘Punish the World’ –

The scale and intensity of the Chinese exercises — as well as Beijing’s withdrawal from key talks on climate and defense — have sparked outrage in the United States and other democracies.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a meeting with his Philippine counterpart on Saturday that Washington was “determined to act responsibly” to avoid a larger global crisis.

China shouldn’t hold talks on issues of global concern like the “climate change hostage,” Blinken said, as it’s “not punishing the United States, it’s the world.”

The United Nations also called on the two superpowers to continue working together – for the good of the world.

“There is no way for the Secretary-General to solve the world’s most pressing problems without effective dialogue and cooperation between the two countries,” said his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

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