Asia: China strengthens its military deployment around Taiwan

China strengthened its military deployment around Taiwan on the second day of a show of force, with dozens of ships and around fifty aircraft, the island’s authorities said on Wednesday.

China considers Taiwan as a province that it has not yet managed to unify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, and does not rule out the use of force to achieve this.

Taiwan said Wednesday it had detected 53 Chinese military aircraft and 19 ships around the island in the past 24 hours, in Beijing’s largest maritime deployment in several years.

11 warships

The planes and boats, including 11 warships, were spotted during the 24 hours up to 6 a.m. local Wednesday (11 p.m. Swiss Tuesday), according to a tally from the Taiwanese Defense Ministry.

This is the highest number of aircraft detected in a single day since the record 153 recorded on October 15, Beijing’s response to President Lai Ching-te’s speech on Taiwan’s National Day a few days ago.

That day, 14 Chinese ships were also detected. On Tuesday, Taiwan had already reported a massive deployment by China near its waters. 47 Chinese planes had been detected in Taiwan’s airspace, as well as 12 Chinese warships near the island.

“Draw a red line”

In total, Beijing has deployed nearly 90 boats over a wider area, in the waters of the East and South China Seas, as well as in the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the mainland, in what has been described by Taipei as Beijing’s largest maritime exercise in several years.

These vessels – approximately 60 warships and 30 coast guard vessels – simulated attacking foreign ships and disrupting shipping routes in the waters around Taiwan to “draw a red line” before taking office. Donald Trump, a Taiwanese security official said.

The Chinese military and Chinese state media have not publicly reported increased activity in these areas. However, a spokeswoman for Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that China, which considers Taiwan its territory, will “resolutely defend” its sovereignty.

Taiwan President’s Tour

The latest Chinese deployments come days after the end of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s Pacific tour, which sparked strong protests from Beijing.

Lai Ching-te notably spoke by telephone with the Speaker of the American House of Representatives Mike Johnson during this tour, arousing the ire of Beijing.

China in response urged the United States to “stop sending bad signals” to “Taiwanese independence forces”. And warned Taiwan against any attempt to “aim for independence with the help of the United States”, saying that it would “necessarily fail”.

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