Changes in the US military’s focus likely prompted the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to resume frequent activity in the Taiwan Strait, following a lull of two weeks, a national security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The lull in Chinese military aircraft activity near Taiwan was intended to project a more conciliatory posture ahead of a potential meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), with the aim of discouraging Washington from selling arms to Taiwan, the official said.
Trump and Xi were expected to meet this month, but those plans are likely to be postponed.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Ministry of National Defense data showed that China did not dispatch a warplane into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone — an area that Taipei closely monitors, but is not its territorial airspace — from Feb. 28 to Friday last week.
However, as Washington is shifting military resources toward the Middle East amid its war with Iran, Beijing has resumed pressure on Taiwan and the first island chain, seeking to capitalize on the changing regional dynamics, the official said.
Beijing’s rhetoric sought to create the illusion that the Taiwan Strait issue was not urgent, they said.
Its efforts intended to weaken support among democratic partners of Taiwan, and to advance Beijing’s broader goal of asserting control over the Taiwan Strait and breaking through the first island chain, potentially creating a “strategic window” that could undermine US and allied security in the Pacific region, they said.
Chinese military activity resumed on Saturday last week, coinciding with the redeployment of US forces from the Indo-Pacific region to the Middle East, as well as North Korea’s launch of multiple ballistic missiles into the sea between it and Japan, the official said.
China had sought to shape conditions ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting by portraying itself as a stabilizing actor in the Taiwan Strait, the official said.
However, with the meeting delayed and regional conditions shifting, Beijing has adjusted its approach and renewed pressure on Taiwan, they said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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