KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN – Contrary to what much of the world’s media has reported, China’s 13-hour mock blockade of Taiwan, which began on Monday, October 14, has seen a record number of planes, aircraft carriers, and naval and coastal It was done using both. Setting up the patrol vessels was not as simple as China “punishing” Taiwan’s new president, William Lai, for his comments since taking office in May of this year.
Elizabeth Freund Laras, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Global China Hub, told Fox News Digital that China had planned the exercise in advance and was not prepared to carry out the exercise regardless of what Lai said. I would have done it,” he said. “The military exercises are aimed at depleting Taiwan’s military equipment and personnel. The purpose of the exercises is to threaten Taiwan’s security until the Taiwanese people lose faith in the government, and to change the status quo of Taiwan’s independence from China. ”
From the Chinese government’s tactical perspective, all of these reasons would be sufficient to justify military exercises, but Dr. Zhang Qing, a senior researcher at the Strategic Research Institute of the Republic of China and who also served in the Navy for decades, told FOX told the news. Digital that people are missing the big picture. Chan pointed to military records released by Japan that tracked Russian and Chinese warships in the days leading up to the 13-hour exercise.
Ambassador says Taiwanese people are ready to fight as China intensifies aggression
On October 14th (Monday), the Ministry of Defense issued a press release from the Joint Staff. We have confirmed its existence.” Two Russians were killed in the sea approximately 400 kilometers (approximately 248 miles) northeast of Okinotorishima (Tokyo). These are just a few of the ships identified, and Japan’s press release said it had been tracking the actions of the Chinese and Russian navies since late September.
The location of these ships at the time meant they could not plausibly be connected to the brief blockade of Taiwan, Zhang argued. “The real target is the United States,” he told Fox News Digital. “They were using a very old Chinese strategy called ‘surround the point/attack the reinforcements.’ In other words, ambush the US Navy if it was heading towards Taiwan, which was already hostage. China will win if it can convince the United States that any action it chooses to take in the Taiwan Strait is not worth interfering with.
Other local experts had a similar view of the situation. Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted Lin Yingyu, an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s School of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, as saying that the timing of the military exercises was designed to help China seek to develop its ability to respond to multiple simultaneous crises. He claimed it was an attempt. the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait.
China aims to ‘weaken Taiwan’s dependence’ with covert economic activities and cyber operations, says US wargamer
Depending on what matrix you use to measure it, the Chinese Navy is either second to the United States, has overtaken the United States, or is basically on par with it. Regardless of its ranking, China has a powerful navy, but it is often dismissed as inexperienced. But analysts like Zhang, who has spent his adult life studying military strategy and threats, say people who underestimate China’s navy are taking a risk.
China’s fleet has a large number of smaller, more modern vessels. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about 70% of China’s warships have been launched since 2010, compared to only about 25% of the U.S. Navy’s warships.
Unlike in the past, there was no 24-hour notice for Joint Sword 2024B, and no specific latitude or longitude parameters were announced. And, as a final touch, no expected date or time was given for the exercise to end. .
Despite this, the overall atmosphere on the streets of Taiwan during the siege was calm, with few people telling the media that they felt fear or threat. Some say such complacency is worrying because it suggests that Taiwanese people are beginning to accept that the government and military are powerless to stop a rapidly approaching Chinese invasion. Some — for example, Joint Sword 2024B came within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan.
China’s large and well-armed coast guard also participated in Joint Sword 2024B. Many of the Chinese Coast Guard’s vessels are warships in nature, and its fleet includes several 10,000-ton vessels equipped with 76 mm guns and with a top speed of 25 knots (28.7 MPH).
The move, which Elizabeth Freund Larrousse described as “pretty creepy” and which Zhang described as “a cynical reflection of their ‘abusive relationship’ mentality,” led to the China Coast Guard’s official website The image published on the Expo account (China version X) shows a heart-shaped drill route around Taiwan. The image includes Chinese characters that roughly translate to “Hello, my love! Our patrol is how we love you.”
Taiwan reacts to President Trump’s comment that “Taiwan should pay for defense”
In a recent poll, about 70% of Taiwanese said they expected some kind of support from the United States in the event of a Chinese attack, but said the U.S. response to Joint Sword 2024B was lukewarm and confusing. Some people see it.
“The United States is gravely concerned about the People’s Liberation Army’s joint military exercises in and around Taiwan,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. “China’s military provocation response to the annual speech is unwarranted and risks escalation.”
For Chinese military planners, Taiwan is not an easy island to invade.
The State Department’s Asia-Pacific Media Hub said on October 15 via It’s proportionate,” he said in a statement. , and becomes unstable. ”
Some within Taiwan have questioned why the State Department chose to use the word “disproportionate” when Taiwan has done nothing to warrant even a “proportionate” response. With the US presidential election just weeks away, all official comments coming out of Washington, D.C., are likely to be carefully scrutinized, which makes the State Department’s comments even more puzzling.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Given that almost all of Taiwan’s actions are seen by the Chinese government as some kind of “pro-independence provocation,” the world’s democracies, led by the United States, have come together on Taiwan to counter China’s constant attempts to There are calls for the government to prepare a concrete response. It is to change the status quo, militarize the Taiwan Strait, and deprive the Taiwanese people of their hard-won democracy.
Kitsch Liao, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told Fox New Digital that “Taiwan needs to act as a North Star and galvanize collective efforts, last updated in 2007. “It is essential that we provide the latest information on our national security strategy.” Towards peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. ”