China’s recent increase in military pressure on Taiwan has raised more concerns about whether the PLA will use force against the country. A Pentagon official in charge of Chinese affairs said that on issues involving the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party leadership, such as Taiwan, they may take military action even if they do not have complete certainty of success. A Pentagon spokesman said Thursday that China is increasingly using its military as a tool to coerce Taiwan and its neighbors.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said a PLA Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft entered the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in southwest Taiwan’s airspace on Thursday (Sept. 24), and the Air Force, in addition to sending air patrols and emergency takeoffs and other forces to respond, also broadcasted the dispersal and air defense tracking and monitoring.
According to the immediate military developments released by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, this is the seventh consecutive time since the 17th of this month that the PLA has intruded into Taiwan’s airspace in the southwestern Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), except for the 20th, in which several warplanes crossed the centerline of the Strait on the 18th and 19th.
The escalating tensions in the Taiwan Strait have also raised many concerns about the security of Taiwan and the region.
Bonnie Glaser, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, asked Chad Sbragia, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Chinese affairs, in a conversation on the think tank’s podcast Tuesday whether the PLA has the capability to seize and occupy Taiwan, given that the Defense Department only recently released its latest report on China’s military capability development. If the top leadership ordered them to take over Taiwan, would they consider themselves ready to do so?
For the Chinese, it is not necessarily about whether the PLA will, or can, take any coercive action, Shi Cande replied.
“On this issue, Chinese military personnel have told us many times to our face: ‘Understand that we may be forced to defend our national interests to prevent them from being lost forever, whether or not we actually succeed,'”
Shi said, “There will certainly be situations where the Chinese will use force, even though they know that they may not be fully confident that they can succeed in achieving all of their strategic political objectives, because there are many other conditions or objectives involved, and on an important issue like Taiwan, at least it may involve the credibility or legitimacy of the Communist Party leadership. “
In response to the PLA’s frequent incursions into airspace near Taiwan, U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Supple said in an emailed response to the Voice of America on Thursday, “The United States has maintained a constructive and unofficial relationship with Taiwan for 40 years. The aggressive and destabilizing actions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reflect its continuing attempts to change the status quo and rewrite history. It is yet another example of how the People’s Republic of China is increasingly using its military as a tool to coerce Taiwan and its other neighbors.”
He said, “Taiwan’s security and the ability of its people to determine their future without coercion is a vital U.S. interest and essential to regional security.”
The president of Taiwan tweeted after visiting Penghu Air Base on Tuesday, saying, “Taiwan’s Air Force will not yield to threats or military provocations, and our men and women in uniform have the will and ability to defend Taiwan from intimidation by the People’s Republic of China’s incursions into our airspace. We are committed to maintaining regional peace and stability.”
In retweeting Tsai’s tweet, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense also said, “The ROC Air Force will not provoke, but will respond to hostile actions. We are committed to maintaining regional peace and stability. Do not underestimate our determination to defend our country.”
In response to the PLA’s successive exercises in the airspace near Taiwan, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Tan Kefei said at a regular press conference Thursday that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China and that “the PLA’s organization of live exercises in the Taiwan Sea area demonstrates its determination and ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, targeting the interference of external forces and the few ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists and their separatist activities.”
He said Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government “continuously provokes cross-strait confrontation and ‘seeking independence’, endangering peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a plot that is doomed to fail.”
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