EThe day after Nancy Pelosi departed, the Chinese military began announced maneuvers and target practice around Taiwan on Thursday. This is Beijing’s way of showing Taiwan its anger at the visit of the “speaker” of the US House of Representatives. According to Taiwanese sources, the People’s Liberation Army of China fired 11 Dongfeng-type ballistic missiles into waters north, northeast, south and east of Taiwan. It was the first Chinese missile test in this sea region since the Taiwan crisis of 1995 and 1996. At that time, the target practice focused almost exclusively on the waters west of Taiwan, while this time a deliberate simulation of an island encirclement is being used.
On Thursday night, twelve military aircraft flew over the so-called center line in the Taiwan Strait, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Ministry of Defense in Taipei. This is the highest reported number of such flights in decades. Ten warships would also have crossed the line. The centerline flyover and traverse serve the purpose of shifting established informal boundaries of China’s operational space and bringing it closer to Taiwan.
China closes seven areas for maneuvers
Taiwan’s seaports bureau said on Thursday that China has closed another area to shipping traffic in addition to the six maneuver areas already declared. While Beijing has announced maneuvers until Sunday noon for the first six areas, the seventh area will be closed until Monday, the port authority wrote on its website. With this, China seems to want to stir up fears that the military exercises could possibly only be the prelude to a longer-term naval blockade. Taiwan is particularly vulnerable to a disruption in its gas supplies. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taipei, the country’s emergency gas reserves will last eleven days.
Image: FAZ
Taiwan’s LNG terminals are located in the port of Kaohsiung, ahead of which lies the largest of China’s restricted areas. The seventh restricted area is 130 kilometers from the port city of Hualien. The port authority announced that entrances and exits were initially not affected. Air traffic and fisheries were disrupted. Some airlines canceled flights.
It is clearly evident that the Chinese military is using the exercises to gather knowledge and experience for the scenario of a future naval blockade. A scientist from the National Defense University in Beijing said this openly on state television. The restricted areas were strategically chosen so that important ports could be blocked and military bases attacked from there in an emergency. The party newspaper Global Times wrote that the military drills were “rehearsals for reunification operations” and part of an effort to “make blockades of the island routine.” The Chinese Defense Ministry released few details about the maneuvers. Among other things, a spokesman said that operations to gain air sovereignty had been practiced.
