While the Russia-Ukraine war is dominating media coverage, it is vital that Taiwan, its allies and neighboring nations maintain a laser-like focus on Chinese maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, as Beijing appears to be exploiting the conflict to test the resolve of Taipei and its allies.
On Friday, China sailed its newest aircraft carrier, the Shandong, through the Strait close to Kinmen County, several hours before US President Joe Biden was due to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The Shandong was shadowed by a US guided-missile destroyer and monitored by Taiwanese warships.
The timing of the Shandong’s passage might have been coincidental. Nevertheless, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters: “We’ve seen a concerning increase in PRC [People’s Republic of China] military activity in the Taiwan Strait, which we believe is potentially destabilizing.”
Psaki’s observation resonates with comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino, who in an interview with The Associated Press published on Sunday said that China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it has built up in the South China Sea. China has armed the islands — Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁), Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁) and Fiery Cross Reef (Yongshu Reef, 永暑島) — with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, radar, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets, Aquilino said.
More than just static aircraft carriers, these artificially enlarged islands, used in conjunction with air bases on Woody Island (Yongxing Island, 永興島) and the Paracels (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), allow Chinese military aircraft to operate over nearly the entirety of the South China Sea and provide its military with near-blanket radar coverage, research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed. The installations would be vital assets were China to invade Taiwan. They would help China gain maritime air superiority, providing vital cover to its military vessels, and would also form a key component of its access-denial strategy, which aims to deny the US Navy access to the area.
Meanwhile, sorties by Chinese military aircraft into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone continue without let-up. Sorties were flown on every day last week, except on Sunday, on flight paths close to the strategically important Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) and the Bashi Channel. Although these missions are designed to fatigue Taiwan’s pilots and ground staff, and wear out aircraft, they are not without risk for the Chinese side.
During a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on March 10, National Security Bureau Director-General Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said that a Chinese Shaanxi Y-8 aircraft crashed in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam.
A search-and-rescue operation was disguised as additional exercises in an attempt to cover up the crash, Chen said.
Speaking to legislators yesterday, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said that Beijing views the South China Sea as its territorial waters, and consequently sees its militarization of islets and atolls in the sea as its right, and a vital stepping stone to achieving its territorial ambitions.
Having engaged in the most extensive military buildup since World War II, China is now flexing its muscles at sea and in the air.
Taiwan, the US and its allies cannot afford to take their eyes off the ball.
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