Not so long ago, the People’s Republic of China [RPC] assured that she would bring Taiwan back into her fold peacefully. But the tone changed when Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that he would “not promise to renounce the use of force”, believing that the independence of the island “could only lead to a dead end” .
Since then, the People’s Liberation Army [APL] continues to increase its military pressure on Taiwan, regularly organizing large-scale maneuvers. In 2022, Wei Fenghe, then Chinese Minister of Defense, warned that Beijing “will not hesitate for a moment to start a war, whatever the cost” if ever “someone dares to separate Taiwan from China” . Two years later, his successor, Dong Jun, gave the same speech during the last edition of Dialogne Shangri La, on June 2.
The PLA “has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defending the unification of the motherland, and it will act with determination and force at all times to curb Taiwan’s independence and ensure that it never succeeds.” in his attempts,” said Mr. Dong.
A few days earlier, China had “greeted” in its own way the inauguration of Lai Ching-te, the new Taiwanese president, by mobilizing planes and warships to encircle the island for forty-eight hours. Called “United Sharp Swords 2024A”, these maneuvers are a “severe punishment for the separatist acts of the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and a warning against the interference and provocation of the new forces”, argued a spokesperson for the Taiwan command. PLA Eastern Theater.
For its part, Chinese diplomacy was just as martial by declaring that “all separatist forces in favor of the independence of Taiwan [allaient finir] in blood, with a broken head in the face of the historic event of the complete reunification of China.”
It is therefore in this context that an unusual event occurred in the vicinity of the Pescadores Islands [ou Penghu], located in the Taiwan Strait, 45 km from the southwest coast of Taiwan and 140 km from mainland China. Thus, on June 18, a nuclear ballistic missile submarine [SNLE] Chinese, probably type 094 [ou classe Jin] suddenly surfaced there, near a Taiwanese fishing boat. The crew of the latter also took photographs, which were then distributed via social networks.
According to the testimony of the Taiwanese fishermen, a PLA surface ship, the type of which was not specified, then joined the SSBN to, a priori, accompany it to its home port of Qingdao.
As a reminder, displaying a displacement of 11,000 tonnes submerged for a length of 135 meters, a type 094 SSBN would be equipped with a dozen JL-2 strategic ballistic missiles, each capable of carrying 3 to 4 nuclear warheads over a distance from 7 to 8000 km.
At the same time, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense again reported the presence of twenty planes and seven ships of the PLA in the vicinity of Taiwan. “Twelve of these planes crossed the center line [du détroit] and entered our identification and air defense zone [ADIZ] “, he clarified.
As for the SSBN, Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Koo assured that Taipei had the situation under control, without giving further details. “We have the means of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, but I do not think it is appropriate to disclose our investigation methods here,” he said.
However, the Taiwanese air force [RoCAF – Republic of China Air Force] has 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft as well as 500MD and S70C Super Blue Hawk helicopters, equipped with underwater detection capabilities.
It remains to be seen the reasons which led this Chinese SSBN to surface. The fact that the waters of the Taiwan Strait are relatively shallow [moins de cinquante mètres environ, au niveau des îles Pescadores, ndlr] could be an explanation. But a Taiwanese military source contacted by the Reuters agency suggested a malfunction, which would have forced it to surface. Unless it is a “strategic signal” which would be part of a sort of psychological warfare waged against Taipei.
“In addition to military force, the People’s Republic of China is increasingly using non-traditional methods of coercion to try to force Taiwan into submission. But Taiwan will not give in to pressure,” declared Mr. Lai on June 19. “The people of Taiwan will firmly uphold national sovereignty and uphold their democratic and free constitutional way of life,” he added.
