High tensions: Taiwan detects 41 Chinese military planes and ships

Taiwan detected 41 Chinese military planes and ships near the island on Friday, ahead of an overseas trip by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said. This is the highest number in more than three weeks.

Stopovers in American territory during the first trip abroad by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te provoke the ire of Beijing, which denounces “separatist actions”. However, no meeting with the authorities of the United States, Taipei's main supporter, has been announced.

Invested in May, Mr. Lai will take off on Saturday to travel to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, the only Pacific islands among Taiwan's 12 remaining allies. But stops are planned in his program in Hawaii, where he will spend two nights, and in Guam (one night).

Taiwan's Defense Ministry detected 33 Chinese planes and eight warships in 24 hours in its airspace and waters on Friday. He also spotted a balloon, the fourth since Sunday, about 172 kilometers west of the island.

In recent years, China has increased its military activity around the island to pressure Taipei into accepting its sovereignty claims. It deploys fighter planes, drones and warships around Taiwan almost daily.

Expected Chinese exercise

Taiwanese officials have already stopped on American soil during trips to the Pacific or Latin America, arousing the anger of Chinese leaders. Lai Ching-te's predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, had already passed through Hawaii and Guam during her first official visit to her Pacific allies in 2017.

The “Chinese army has the sacred mission of protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity and will resolutely crush all secessionist attempts for Taiwan's independence,” Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Defense, warned on Thursday.

As of Thursday evening, the Taiwanese military had deployed planes, ships and coastal missile systems after detecting 19 Chinese aircraft near the island.

“It is not excluded that there will be a large-scale military exercise in response to Lai Ching-te's visit to Hawaii,” said Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at the Taiwan Research Institute. on national defense and security, interviewed by AFP.

ATS