China’s military exercises show that Beijing doesn’t need to invade Taiwan to control it — instead, it can strangle the self-governing island, isolating it from the outside world, Chinese and American analysts say.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises, which officially began last Thursday, focused on six zones that essentially surrounded Taiwan, restricting access to ships and civilian aircraft in the area, while forces conducted live-fire exercises. and missile launches.
Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, said the six areas were chosen to show how China can cut off Taiwan’s ports, attack its most important military installations and cut off access to foreign forces that might come to the aid of Taiwan. Taiwan.
“Connect the six areas in a line, like a loop, with the knot of the loop in the southwest direction,” Meng said in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV.
The Communist Party of China views democratic Taiwan as its territory – despite never having controlled it. Taiwan’s union with the mainland is a cornerstone of Chinese policy and President Xi Jinping has not ruled out using force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.
Meng noted that the northern exercise areas have successfully isolated Taiwan from Okinawa, the island where Japan and the United States base substantial military resources. In southern areas, the PLA has shown it can control the Bashi Canal, “the only way in and out of the South China Sea,” he said. And in the eastern areas, China’s forces have shown that precisely firing Chinese missiles can force foreign warships away from Taiwan’s waters, he added.
“This is an unprecedented siege of the island of Taiwan,” Meng said.
And on Monday, China issued a warning to say the drills are continuing.
A trigger for long-planned exercises
The exercises began after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered Beijing by visiting Taipei last week to show her support for democracy on the island.
Beijing has flooded the seas and skies around Taiwan with ships and jets – up to 80 Chinese warplanes and vessels were detected in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, according to the Taiwan Ministry of Defense.
In previous days, the PLA also fired rockets at small Taiwan-controlled islands near the mainland and launched ballistic missiles further afield, with some flying over Taiwan and landing in the ocean east of the island. Five fell into Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone – a message to one of Taiwan’s top supporters as well as the Taipei government.
A map of the six Chinese exercise areas “clearly plots where the Chinese think the main operational areas are for their strategic deterrence of Taiwan,” Mick Ryan, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Army general, wrote on Twitter. Australian.
Commercial ships and aircraft were warned to stay away from exercise zones, forcing carriers and airlines to organize alternate routes.
Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, said the six-zone blockade shows that any takeover of Taiwan can start with an isolation strategy.
“The exercise demonstrated that blocking a conflict need not require a constant naval presence at sea, but rather, sea and air transport can be deterred by air and missile threats in support of a maritime blockade,” Schuster said.
“The exercise suggests that Beijing would first isolate Taiwan and resort to air and missile strikes in hopes of breaking Taipei’s political will. An expensive hack is probably a last resort,” Schuster said.
what might come next
Schuster said much of what Beijing has demonstrated has been in the works for a long time. The exercises coincided with standard military exercises on the PLA’s training calendar, but he said Pelosi’s visit allowed China to make a bigger statement.
“The size, geographic extent and complexity of the exercise reflected months of planning,” he said. “This exercise marks the latest escalation in China’s expanding military exercise and Taiwan’s intimidation campaign.”
He said he hopes the PLA will continue to put pressure on Taiwan and can also send a message to Japan with more exercises in the north of the island.
New drills are also likely in the South China Sea, the 1.3 million square miles of water, nearly all of which China claims as its sovereign territory, where Beijing has built military fortifications on contested islands, Schuster said.
While the ongoing exercises allow the PLA to refine its tactics and operations, they can also provide an opportunity for adversaries to learn about China’s modern military, experts say.
“Nothing provides better insight into an army’s actual capability than seeing them deployed,” Ryan, the former Australian Army general, wrote on Twitter.
With last week’s exercises, Xi had to demonstrate that he would not waver in his commitment to bringing Taiwan under Beijing’s control, Schuster said. Pelosi’s visit to the island posed a direct threat to that, presenting an alternative vision of democracy.
“[Pelosi] leads the democratically elected branch that originates US government funding and economic policy. His position and role make his commitment to Taiwan’s security particularly significant,” Schuster said.
“Unable to intimidate her, Xi had to demonstrate China’s might – diplomatic, economic and military,” he said.
While the military exercises gave Xi strong images to support his resolve, China has also hit Pelosi and the US government with a series of sanctions.
The measures include canceling future phone calls and meetings between Chinese and US military leaders and suspending cooperation on issues such as the repatriation of illegal immigrants, legal assistance in criminal matters and combating transnational crimes. Talks about climate change have also been suspended.’
Beijing also announced measures targeting Pelosi and her immediate family members.
“The objective is intimidation through the application of all elements of Chinese power,” Schuster said.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
