Almost as soon as the plane carrying a US delegation led by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi took off from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) on Thursday, Beijing announced four days of live-fire military drills around Taiwan. China unilaterally cordoned off six maritime exclusion zones around Taiwan proper to simulate a blockade of the nation, fired 11 Dongfeng ballistic missiles and conducted coordinated maneuvers using naval vessels and aircraft.
Although the drills were originally to end on Sunday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command issued a statement through Chinese state media that the exercises would continue, and provided no end date.
Military experts disagree over whether the drills represent an escalation by Beijing, or are broadly in line with similar exercises China held in the past. Tamkang University Institute of Strategic Studies assistant professor Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑) said that the scope of the missile tests do not exceed the threat level during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995 and 1996, and were likely carefully calibrated so as not to escalate the situation. However, experts such as retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said the drills are more serious than 26 years ago.
Back then, Beijing attempted to use military coercion to deter Taiwanese from voting for former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in the nation’s first direct presidential election. The PLA fired missiles that landed between 46km and 65km from the ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung, just inside Taiwan’s territorial waters. Last week’s drills saw missiles splash down just 20km from Kaohsiung.
Others have said the PLA maneuvers and missile landing sites were positioned off Taiwan’s east coast for the first time, enabling China to completely surround Taiwan proper and theoretically prevent reinforcements arriving from the US during a wartime scenario.
International media coverage of the exercises was in stark contrast to the mood in Taiwan. Major international news outlets portrayed Taiwan and China as being on the brink of war. Some sought to cast Pelosi’s visit as rash and poorly timed.
However, here in Taiwan, life goes on as normal. There is no sense of tension in the air and certainly no sign of panic among the populace: Taiwan has seen this play out before. If Beijing’s aim was to conduct psychological warfare against Taiwan, it has been a demonstrable failure. An opinion poll published on Monday by the Chinese Association of Public Opinion Research found that 60 percent of respondents were “unconcerned” that the PLA’s drills could lead to military conflict; only 34 percent expressed concern. The Taiwanese public’s apparent indifference can either be viewed as measured and rational, or as reflecting a dangerous degree of complacency toward the iceberg on the horizon.
One thing is certain: An invasion of Taiwan was never in the cards. Not only is Taiwan’s military at near full mobilization, having just completed the annual Han Kuang exercises, the US has deployed a number of significant naval assets in the region, including the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier group, which could respond rapidly to an attack by China. From a tactical perspective, an invasion of Taiwan now would be extremely high-risk. With both Taiwan’s and the US’ militaries on high alert, China could not exploit any element of surprise.
However, if Beijing’s goal was to put up a massive smokescreen to obscure its discredited “zero COVID-19” policy and its catastrophic mismanagement of China’s economy — coming home to roost in the form of parallel property and banking crises — then it has been a roaring success. Nobody is talking about these policy failures anymore.
The government and local industries breathed a sigh of relief after Shin Kong Life Insurance Co last week said it would relinquish surface rights for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) to Nvidia Corp. The US chip-design giant’s plan to expand its local presence will be crucial for Taiwan to safeguard its core role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and to advance the nation’s AI development. The land in dispute is owned by the Taipei City Government, which in 2021 sold the rights to develop and use the two plots of land, codenamed T17 and T18, to the
Taiwan’s first case of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Tuesday evening at a hog farm in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲), trigging nationwide emergency measures and stripping Taiwan of its status as the only Asian country free of classical swine fever, ASF and foot-and-mouth disease, a certification it received on May 29. The government on Wednesday set up a Central Emergency Operations Center in Taichung and instituted an immediate five-day ban on transporting and slaughtering hogs, and on feeding pigs kitchen waste. The ban was later extended to 15 days, to account for the incubation period of the virus
The ceasefire in the Middle East is a rare cause for celebration in that war-torn region. Hamas has released all of the living hostages it captured on Oct. 7, 2023, regular combat operations have ceased, and Israel has drawn closer to its Arab neighbors. Israel, with crucial support from the United States, has achieved all of this despite concerted efforts from the forces of darkness to prevent it. Hamas, of course, is a longtime client of Iran, which in turn is a client of China. Two years ago, when Hamas invaded Israel — killing 1,200, kidnapping 251, and brutalizing countless others
Art and cultural events are key for a city’s cultivation of soft power and international image, and how politicians engage with them often defines their success. Representative to Austria Liu Suan-yung’s (劉玄詠) conducting performance and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen’s (盧秀燕) show of drumming and the Tainan Jazz Festival demonstrate different outcomes when politics meet culture. While a thoughtful and professional engagement can heighten an event’s status and cultural value, indulging in political theater runs the risk of undermining trust and its reception. During a National Day reception celebration in Austria on Oct. 8, Liu, who was formerly director of the
RSS