AFP Videos – France
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 50 aircraft, the island’s authorities said on Wednesday. China considers Taiwan 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 rule out the use of force to achieve this. Taiwan declared on Wednesday that it had detected 53 military aircraft Chinese and 19 ships circled the island in the past 24 hours, part of Beijing’s largest maritime deployment in several years. Planes and boats, including 11 warships, were spotted in the past 24 hours current until 6:00 a.m. local Wednesday (10:00 p.m. GMT 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 of 153 recorded on October 15, Beijing’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 had also been detected. On Tuesday, Taiwan had already reported a massive deployment of China near its waters. 47 Chinese planes had been detected in Taiwan’s airspace, as well as 12 Chinese warships near the island. – ‘Drawing a red line’ – In total, Beijing deployed nearly 90 boats over an area more wide, in the waters of the East and South China Seas, as well as the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the mainland, in what was 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 an increase in activity in these areas. However, a spokeswoman for Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that China, which considers Taiwan as 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. 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 had 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”, affirming that it would “necessarily be a failure”.amj/vgu/lgo
Swiss
