On the second day of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Keith Krach’s visit to Taiwan and as economic and trade exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan are heating up, the PLA has dispatched a number of military sorties to frequently harass airspace southwest, west, north, and northwest of Taiwan. In addition, China’s Ministry of National Defense announced Friday morning (September 18) that it had launched a combat exercise near the Taiwan Sea, a warning to the United States and Taiwan.
Although the content and timing of the drills are unknown, Taiwan military experts believe that the PLA’s inertial reaction of “internal propaganda and external prestige” is counterproductive, and has sparked resentment among the Taiwanese public and the international community.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang announced Friday at a press conference at the State Council’s White Paper on “30 Years of Chinese Military Participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations,” that “starting today, the PLA’s Eastern Theater is organizing combat drills near the Taiwan Strait. This is a legitimate and necessary action to address the current situation in the Taiwan Sea and to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
PLA’s Eastern Theater conducts military exercises
The PLA’s Eastern Theater also issued a press release later echoing Ren’s declaration. Spokesman Zhang Chunhui said that the theater has “organized air and naval forces to conduct combat readiness police patrols and joint air and naval exercises in the Taiwan Strait to test the level of integrated multi-service joint warfare.”
Through a press release, Zhang Chunhui said, “The theater forces resolutely carry out their duties and missions with confidence and determination to thwart any person or force planning to implement ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities in any form.”
In addition to releasing news of the military exercises, the Communist Army also sends military aircraft to frequently disturb Taiwan.
According to an instant military update released Friday evening by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, the communists sent two Boom 6s, eight J-16s, four J-11s and four J-10s, a total of 18 warplanes, to cross the centerline of the strait on Taiwan’s west coast to provoke, while also carrying out military activities in the southwest air defense identification zone, raising tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
The Taiwan Air Force said that once the anomalies were discovered, it “urgently sent air patrols, as well as took off fighter jets in the air to respond, but also broadcasted several times to drive them away, and even adopted anti-aircraft missiles to chase and monitor the action.”
Common aircraft crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Sea to disturb Taiwan
According to the route map released by the Taiwan Air Force, the PLA planes that crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Strait and challenged the air defense of the Taiwanese Army were mainly 8 J-16 fighters, which flew directly from Fujian to the centerline of the strait and hovered in the centerline area. In addition, along with the J-16 fighters, four J-10 and four J-11 fighters also crossed the strait’s centerline to provoke a simultaneous attack in the more southwestern region.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense also issued a three-point statement through a press release, stating that “the National Army is able to immediately grasp and closely monitor relevant developments in the sea and air around the Taiwan Strait using joint intelligence surveillance to ensure national defense security.
The Defense Ministry called on China to exercise restraint and not to escalate the conflict between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait: “These acts of military intimidation have aroused the resentment of the people of Taiwan and have become increasingly distant from the public opinion of the people of Taiwan.” It also called on the other side of the Taiwan Strait to cherish peace and for both sides of the Strait to work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region.
As for the arrogance of the communist aircraft, according to a record of military enthusiasts cited by the Free Press, between 7 and 11 a.m. Friday, the Taiwan Air Force made 17 emergency takeoffs of various bases and fighter jets across Taiwan, and the airspace where the fighter jets took off on alert covered almost all of the western half of the airspace except for the eastern part.
Among the air bases, the Hualien base of the Taiwan Air Force, as of 11:00 a.m., each batch of two F-16 fighter jets carried two AIM-120 advanced medium-range missiles and two Rattlesnake missiles, and took off as many as three times in a row.
In response to the Communist military intimidation, Taiwan’s presidential spokesman, Robert Chun, said Friday that China’s recent military provocations in the Taiwan Strait and around the region are not conducive to China’s international image, and called for self-restraint, adding that Taiwan’s national military and security units are in control.
As a member of the region, China has the responsibility to work for peace and stability in the region, rather than becoming a unilateral provocateur, said Mr. Zhang.
Previously, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan President Su Tseng-chang and the Ministry of National Defense have repeatedly used the term “troublemaker” to describe the frequent harassment of Taiwan by PLA and Communist military aircraft.
The Voice of America emailed a letter to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), but the AIT has not issued any official response.
Julius Caesar: Chinese Communist Party should not overreact
Among the opposition political parties, former Chairman of Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT), Julius Chu, was the first to express his views, calling on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) not to overreact in order not to cause resentment among the Taiwanese people.
In a joint interview with a television reporter on Friday, Julian said, “The close relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. is a continuous extension from the past to the present, and the Chinese Communist Party should not overreact to this, even to the point of creating resentment among the Taiwanese people.”
He said, “Under Secretary Cratchit came to Taiwan to attend the memorial service for former President Lee, and any official contact is appropriate.
In an interview with the Voice of America, military expert Tsai Yu-ming said that the intimidation pattern of the Communist Party’s release of military drills and the disturbance of Taiwan’s airplanes is very similar to the response during U.S. Health Secretary Azar’s visit to Taiwan last month, and that it is not a routine military drill, but is directed at the U.S. It is highly targeted, a foreign demonstration, and also part of a major internal declaration.
The Chinese Communist Party is on the verge of war and the people are disgusted
It is likely that China is using this as an opportunity to use internal propaganda or external demonstrations to warn the U.S. or to warn Taiwan,” said Tsai Yu-ming, associate professor of liberal arts at Shih Chien University.
Cai Yu-ming commented that the PLA is attempting to convey a ‘warning that it is on the verge of war’ to the U.S. and Taiwan, and may increase its pressure on Taiwan after U.S. Under Secretary of State Cratcher’s visit to Taiwan is over. Such a warning, even if it fails to alleviate the so-called ‘separatism’ in Taiwan, may continue to be used to reinforce its own power and imagery, diverting attention from China’s many internal problems, from economic to social.
He said that since Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, the Communist Party has continued to intimidate Taiwan by circling the island with military aircraft and warships, and as a result, the hearts and minds of the people of Taiwan may gradually become insensitive, but with increasing intensity and frequency, it is feared that the hearts and minds of the people of Taiwan may become increasingly resentful of the CCP.
Cognitive Warfare over the Taiwan Sea
According to Tsai, the PLA’s frequent military drills and disruptions are a form of “cognitive warfare” that exerts its power mainly by influencing the behavior of the recipients of the messages. In short, it is a deliberate attempt to create public opinion, construct a narrative advantage, and use military force to weaken Taiwan’s imagination about the centerline of the strait. It is also using exercises and missile tests to weaken Taiwan’s public expectation that the U.S. military will come to Taiwan’s aid in wartime, and to legitimize the image that the PLA can exercise sovereignty in the Western Pacific.
Despite the PLA’s high-profile intimidation, the U.S. delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State Cratcher embarked on its second day of visit on Friday, and according to media reports, and according to an arrangement that has been revealed behind closed doors, it appears that he met Friday morning with Taiwan’s top economic and trade officials, including Executive Yuan Vice President Shen Rongjin, Economic Affairs Minister Wang Meihua, Finance Minister Su Chien-rong, and Vice Chairman of the Land Commission, to discuss economic and trade issues such as the Taiwan-U.S. supply chain, and to begin the so-called “pre-conversation” for future high-level economic dialogue.
The U.S. delegation also met at noon for a luncheon with representatives of Taiwan’s business community, mainly those in the technology sector, indicating that the U.S. side is highly concerned about the “technology supply chain.
Later in the afternoon, the delegation will engage in an important U.S.-Taiwan “Democracy Dialogue,” in which the U.S. side will be joined by Assistant Secretary Daschle of the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Ambassador-at-Large Corrie of the State Department’s Global Women’s Issues, and Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Wu Zhao-She and others to discuss the current situation of people and democracy in the region. The U.S. delegation will then meet with Executive Director Su Tseng-chang to discuss economic, trade, and industrial chain issues between Taiwan and the U.S., and will also attend a dinner at the residence of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in the evening.
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