China is set to launch live-fire naval military exercises in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, as it steps up efforts to intimidate self-governing Taiwan and deter it from seeking closer ties with Washington.
Analysts said that the drills — the first such maneuvers to be held in the sensitive maritime zone since 2015 — are also intended to send a message to the US as frictions between the two navies grow in the western Pacific.
HOT on the heels of a major military demonstration along the disputed islands in the South China Sea, China is sending a pointed message to its neighbor Taiwan, and to the United States.
The Chinese military is scheduled to hold live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday — a clear warning to Taipei about seeking independence or closer ties with Washington.
The new Trump administration has sought closer ties to President Tsai's government, angering Beijing by signing two deals in the past month to tighten ties with the island, including a traveling act which will allow more official visits between the US and Taipei.
China wants to highlight that the Chinese navy is ever ready and secondly, it is a signal to the government in Taipei you better not go further," Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies' Maritime Security Program, told CNN.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also chairs the powerful Central Military Commission, was on the southern island of Hainan to inspect the naval parade, which involved China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, about 50 other warships as well as more than 10,000 troops and nearly 80 aircraft, including jets, bombers and early-warning planes.
On board the Liaoning for the first time since the vessel was declared combat-ready, Xi urged the troops to stay vigilant and be ready to defend China’s sovereignty and national interests, as well as safeguard regional peace and stability, according to the defense ministry.
The drill "is part of Beijing's psychological warfare against Taiwan, and possibly a means to divert attention from Tsai's visit abroad by compelling media to report on the military drills," said J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based senior fellow at the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute.
The planned drill could also serve as a signal to Washington, which sent an aircraft carrier through the disputed South China Sea last week.
Taiwan can no longer be excluded unjustly from international fora. Taiwan has much to share with the world,” Wong said at a reception attended by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, a member of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.
“I can assure you, the United States government and the United States private sector will do their part to ensure Taiwan’s stellar international example shines brightly.”
Beijing is already furious over a law signed last week by U.S. President Donald Trump that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa.
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