China Military ‘Ready to Fight’ After Dramatic Drills Near Taiwan

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China’s military announced Monday that they have completed some serious training exercises near Taiwan. These exercises were done because the leader of Taiwan recently visited the United States, and China did not like it. The military said these trainings were to show Taiwan that they are ready to fight if needed.

China has said that it is prepared to use ‘forceful’ measures if needed in response to a meeting between the United States and Taiwan, which Beijing considers its own territory. The Chinese military says it can fight to reject any attempts of ‘Taiwan independence’ or foreign interference. Recently, they did some exercise similar to the ones conducted last year when China fired missiles near Taiwan in reaction to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit there but these new exercises were much smaller and caused less disturbance.

Military experts say that China’s military exercises are a way for them to try and scare Taiwan, but also to practice how they could cut off all travel by sea or air if they ever wanted to take over the island.

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan is doing her best to build stronger relationships between Taiwan and Central America countries, as well as gain more support from the United States. On this mission, she had a special meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California while also getting visits from a congressional delegation when she got back to Taiwan.

China reacted quickly after the McCarthy meeting with a travel ban and financial punishments towards people who had been part of Tsai’s trip to the USA. Kuo Yu-jen, an expert on defence and director at the Institute for National Policy Research in Taiwan, spoke and said that China is using America’s diplomatic relationship with Taiwan as an opportunity to strengthen their military power.

China believes that if foreign officials meet with Taiwan’s democratic government, this could encourage people in Taiwan to want independence which China’s ruling party will not accept. These two sides have not been together since a civil war in 1949 and the Chinese government believes that they must reunite by force, if necessary.

After an official from the United States, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan, China showed their disagreement with military power. They launched missiles into the seas near Taiwan and sent warships and aircrafts flying over the middle of the strait separating Taiwan and mainland China. The Chinese also fired more missiles that landed in Japan’s economic area. This was a big action that escalated tensions greatly.

The army held activities that forced planes and boats to change their routes. But this time, the ships and boats have mostly stayed on their regular routes, Kuo said.

The practice drills this week focused on air defense, with Taiwan saying more than 200 military aircraft from China had flown over the past three days. The Chinese government stated, as reported by their military, that these exercises are to “stop Taiwan from getting away” and also “perform strikes on key targets on the island.”

On Monday, the Chinese military said an aircraft carrier called “Shandong” was for the first time joining exercises around Taiwan. They even shared a video of a fighter jet taking off from its deck on Weibo, which is a social media platform.

The Shandong aircraft carrier is in the Pacific Ocean and it could stop other countries’ armies from helping Taiwan, according to Han Gan-ming, who works at a special research center. Han also said that if another military incident happens then Taiwan will have to cope alone since no one will be able to help them.

From Sunday morning until Monday morning, 70 planes flew over the Taiwan Strait. This is a border that both China and Taiwan don’t actually talk about, but they sort of agree on it. The 70 planes included 8 J-16 fighter jets, 4 J-1 fighters, 8 Su-30 fighters, and some other reconnaissance planes. There were also J-15 fighter jets kept an eye on, which are connected to a Chinese aircraft carrier called Shandong.

By Monday evening, Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that in the weekend there were 91 planes (fighters, early warning aircraft and transport airplanes), as well as 8 warships flying near Taiwan. The island’s Defense Ministry said that it would not get into any arguments or disputes about the situation.

Taiwan said they used their missiles based on the land and also ships from the navy to monitor China’s decisions.

In recent years, China has been getting more aggressive with its military actions against Taiwan. Every day they send planes and ships to the island. After a visit of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi, these actions have increased even more – Chinese warplanes fly over the middle boundary line often and navy ships sail off Taiwan’s northeast coast on a regular basis.

The U.S. 7th Fleet said their destroyer, USS Milius, sailed near a place called Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. This location has an artificial island built by China to show it belongs to them. But the Chinese military accused the U.S. of entering their area without permission.

Kuo felt anxious about the plans announced by Fujian’s Maritime Safety Administration last week. They said they will inspect cargo ships and boats crossing over Taiwan Strait during a patrol mission.

He warned that first, they will go after all vessels going through the Strait and then any other boat that sails internationally. In the end, he thought this would become the new norm.

Last week, one of the U.S representatives who attended a meeting with Tsai said that we must take China’s threat to Taiwan seriously. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the United States House Select Committee on China, told Big Big News that his committee is planning on helping to make sure Taiwan’s government is strong and safe by trying to get Congress to give Taiwan military aid quickly.