China considers Taiwan to be a province that it has not yet succeeded in unifying with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, and does not exclude the use of force to achieve this.
Taiwan said on Wednesday that it had detected 53 Chinese military aircraft and 19 ships around the island over the past 24 hours, as part of the largest maritime deployment carried out by Beijing for several years.
“These actions inject uncertainty and risk into the region, creating disruption for neighboring countries, and confirm that China is a troublemaker undermining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the United States was monitoring the situation and would ensure “no one is doing anything to change the status quo across the strait” the Taiwan.
“Once again, our policy has not changed. We will continue to do everything in our power to help Taiwan acquire the means to defend itself”he told the press on Wednesday at an American base in Japan.
The day before he had criticized the “coercive behavior” of China, during a meeting with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo.
Planes and boats, including 11 warshipswere spotted during the 24 hours up to 6 a.m. local time Wednesday (10 p.m. GMT Tuesday), according to a count from the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense.
This is the highest number of aircraft detected in a single day since record of 153 recorded on October 15Beijing’s response to the speech given by President Lai Ching-te on the occasion of Taiwan’s National Day a few days earlier. 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 which separates the island from the mainland.
These vessels – approximately 60 warships and 30 coast guard vessels – have simulated attack on foreign ships and disruption of shipping routes in waters around Taiwan pour “draw a red line” before Donald Trump took office, 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.
The latest Chinese deployments come days after the end of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s Pacific tour, which sparked strong protests from Beijing.
Mr. Lai 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“, claiming that it would be “necessarily a failure”.
