China has begun its second day of military drills targeting Taiwan, in what it says is punishment for “separatist acts” after the inauguration of its new president on Monday.
The exercises, which involve Chinese military units from the air force, rocket force, navy, army, and coast guard, were announced suddenly on Thursday morning, with maps showing five approximate target areas in the sea surrounding Taiwan’s main island. Other areas also targeted Taiwan’s offshore islands, which are close to the Chinese mainland.
China’s defence ministry said the drills on Friday were testing its military’s ability to “seize power” and occupy key areas, in line with Beijing’s ultimate goal of annexing Taiwan. Taiwan’s government and people reject the prospect of Chinese rule, but China’s ruler Xi Jinping has not renounced the use of force to take the island. Western intelligence has claimed Xi has told the People’s Liberation Army to be capable of an invasion by 2027.
Tit-for-tat, innit?
Not a coincidence that the Filipino-American Balikatan military exercise this year simulated invading Taiwan… or that exercises ended on May 10th (taking place in the Batanes, 218km from Taiwan)… Or that they were the largest such exercises since 1991.
Not a coincidence that the Korean-American “Freedom Shield” military exercise was more than double the scale of last year’s.
Also not a coincidence that Lai very conspicuously claimed that the PRC is an independent country, violating the ROC’s Constitution and breaking the 1992 Consensus that is de facto upheld by the KMT and supported by the TPP immediately after agreeing to uphold said constitution…
While Lai holds the executive seat, his opposition dominates the legislature. Coincidentally, Taiwan is currently seeing mass protests against a bill that would shift power away from the executive to better match other democracies worldwide (this is the same bill that, notoriously, DPP lawmakers tried to steal from the Yuan to avoid getting it passed).
The DPP is a party that does not want Taiwan to stay Taiwan. It wants to ignore Taiwan’s roots, it wants to ignore the history, the culture, and the economy. It does not want to uphold democratic ideals and instead prefers consolidated power within the executive… And, of course, this is even as KMT sympathizers hold a stranglehold over the upper echelons of Taiwan’s military.