{"id":17333,"date":"2023-08-20T10:49:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T07:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=17333"},"modified":"2023-08-20T10:49:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T07:49:56","slug":"china-conducts-large-scale-military-drills-around-taiwan-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/china-conducts-large-scale-military-drills-around-taiwan-strait\/","title":{"rendered":"China conducts large-scale military drills around Taiwan Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a large-scale military drill around the island of Taiwan that involves several of its frigates, destroyers, fighter jets, and planes. The exercise that started on August 19, 2023, coincides with some key events including a visit from Taiwan\u2019s Vice President William Lai to the United States.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLA spokesperson said that the exercise is aimed at increasing operational cooperation between military vessels and warplanes. \u201cThe patrols and exercises are meant to train the coordination of military vessels and airplanes and their ability to seize control of air and sea spaces,\u201d a spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command Shi Yi told the media. He added that the exercise would test the Chinese military\u2019s \u201cability to fight in real combat conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan\u2019s defense ministry said that the exercise involved at least 42 Chinese aircraft and eight ships were detected around the island. The ministry also said that 26 Chinese planes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which is considered an unofficial border between mainland China and Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the drills and crossing of the median line, Taiwan\u2019s military dispatched fighter aircraft and naval ships while activating its land-based missile systems, closely tracking the situation, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taipei strongly condemned PLA\u2019s military drills in close proximity to the self-governing island saying that it does not “help peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.\u201d Taiwanese administration also said that the drills showcase China’s “militaristic mentality.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"China<\/a>
A missile is launched during a Chinese military drill on August 4, 2022. (Image Credit: CFP\/via CGTN)<\/sup><\/em>

<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


Warning for Taiwan\u2019s Independence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwanese officials were expecting a military drill around Taiwan Strait following the recent events including the visit of Taiwan\u2019s Vice President William Lai to the United States, where he stopped on his way to Paraguay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A statement by the spokesperson of the Chinese military added that \u201cthe patrols and exercises serve as a stern warning to the collusion of \u2018Taiwan independence\u2019 separatists with foreign elements and their provocations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s foreign ministry issued a statement to coincide with Lai\u2019s visit to the U.S., saying it was opposed to any form of a visit by \u201cTaiwan independence separatists\u201d to the U.S. \u201cLai stubbornly adheres to the separatist position of Taiwan independence and is a troublemaker through and through,\u201d the ministry said. William Lai is the most likely candidate to become Taiwan\u2019s president in the next elections that are set to be held in January next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu called China\u2019s military drills as an attempt to influence the upcoming elections in the self-governed island. He said that it was up to Taiwan\u2019s citizens to decide on their upcoming elections, \u201cnot the bully next door.\u201d \u201cChina should hold its own elections; I\u2019m sure its people would be thrilled,\u201d he wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chinese Navy ships conducting military drills near Taiwan. (Image Credit: China Military)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The exercise also comes shortly after the leaders of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea wrapped up a trilateral meeting in the U.S. focused on finding ways to deter China and its military activities in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three leaders declared that the meeting is a start of a \u201cnew era of trilateral partnership\u201d as they announced a series of measures aimed at bolstering trilateral partnership. A joint statement said that the three countries would work close on countering \u201cthe dangerous and aggressive behavior supporting unlawful maritime claims\u201d of China in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a large-scale military drill around the island of Taiwan that involves several of its frigates, destroyers, fighter jets, and planes. The exercise that started on August 19, 2023, coincides with some key events including a visit from Taiwan\u2019s Vice President William Lai to the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[124,1],"tags":[137,380,45,443,325,5,536,303,169,7,91],"class_list":["post-17333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-news","tag-asia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-china","tag-drills","tag-exercise","tag-military","tag-ships","tag-south-china-sea","tag-taiwan","tag-u-s","tag-warship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/China-warships-military-drill.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-4vz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17337,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17333\/revisions\/17337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}