The Chinese military conducted a simulated invasion of Taiwan on Saturday, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense claimed, as China ramped up its largest-ever military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
Chinese naval and aerial war exercises surrounding Taiwan come after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with the independently-governed island’s president, a move China deemed provocative and a threat to its territorial sovereignty. China has said it wants to reunify Taiwan, still recognized as part of a broader China under the One China policy, and called the military exercises a “rehearsal” for a future military operation.
“Multiple PLA [People’s Liberation Army] craft were detected around Taiwan Strait, some have crossed the median line,” the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement, calling the incursions a “possible simulated attack.” (RELATED: ‘Reunification’ And ‘Reeducation’ Coming For Taiwan, Chinese Ambassador Says)
Taiwanese armed forces activated ready-alert jets in order to dispel 20 Chinese aircraft, including 14 that crossed the unofficial median line dividing the two countries’ claims in the Taiwan Strait, Reuters reported.
Saturday’s drills focused on practicing a joint air and sea assault of Taiwan, Chinese state-run Global Times reported. “These missions would clear paths for amphibious landing forces to launch beach assaults should a reunification-by-force operation take place,” analysts told the Global Times.
Chinese warships also simulated attacks on U.S. and Japanese naval forces, according to Reuters. The U.S. extended the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group’s deployment in nearby waters to “monitor the situation.”
Chinese military drills began Thursday and are scheduled to continue through Sunday.
20 PLA aircraft (SU-30*10, J-16*4, J-11*4, Y-8 ASW and Y-20 Aerial Refueling) and 14 vessels conducted an air-sea operation on the surrounding area of R.O.C on August 6, 2022. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/Tj6C1y0WHR pic.twitter.com/apjMe6IYMn
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) August 6, 2022
On Friday, China suspended military communication with the U.S. and broke off cooperation in climate and security matters. U.S. officials confirmed that Chinese defense officials have not responded to calls from the Pentagon, Politico reported Friday, an act Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “irresponsible.”
“China has chosen to overreact and use Speaker Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” Blinken said at a press conference after a series of meetings with ASEAN partners in Cambodia.
The scale of ongoing military drills “far exceeds” those that took place in 1996, the last time tensions between China and Taiwan peaked, leading experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies to declare a “Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis.”
An alleged audio leak of Chinese war planners discussing strategy for invading Taiwan in May 2022 followed similar PLA exercises billed as a “partial rehearsal” for a Taiwan invasion, the Global Times reported, citing sources. The leak was likely meant to intimidate Taiwan and Western countries and was not accompanied by large-scale mobilization, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Embassy to the U.S. and the Taiwanese defense ministry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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