China has carried out battle video games round Taiwan involving battleships and scores of plane throughout latest days in what a Chinese army spokesman declared was a saber-rattling political message to Taipei opposing the latest U.S. go to by Taiwan Vice President William Lai.

The army workout routines have been anticipated, and People’s Liberation Army Col. Shi Yi, a spokesman for China’s Eastern Theater Command reverse Taiwan, mentioned the forces practiced “seizing maritime and airspace control” north and southwest of Taiwan.

“This is a stern warning against the collusion and provocation of the Taiwan independence separatist forces and the external forces,” Col. Shi said.

In Beijing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stepped up criticism of Mr. Lai, main presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which has spoken out towards China’s claims of sovereignty over the island democracy.

Beijing has brazenly threatened to make use of army pressure if essential to carry Taiwan underneath the management of mainland China’s Communist Party-ruled authorities.

“Resolving the Taiwan question and achieving complete national reunification is the shared aspiration of all the Chinese people and a historical trend that cannot be changed. China must and will be reunified,” mentioned Mr. Wang.

Col. Shi, in the meantime, mentioned China’s latest battle video games round Taiwan targeted on coordination between ships and plane, battlefield management and joint fight operations.

China’s Eastern Theater Command launched a propaganda video final week displaying troops and plane engaged in live-fire workout routines simulating an invasion of Taiwan.

The video appeared on the command’s social media website underneath the title “Reading the Strait.”

Troops have been proven in fight gear storming seashores with anti-invasion defenses much like these at the moment deployed alongside Taiwan’s coast.

The posting said that the PLA was “ready to fight all the time, ready to fight at any time.”

The Taiwan Defense Ministry said on Twitter that through the battle video games, which occurred on Saturday and Sunday, a complete of 87 PLA warplanes have been noticed, together with 27 that crossed the median line down the middle of the Taiwan Strait.

The median-line is a marker within the fragile established order between China and Taiwan that has saved variations between the self-governing island and the mainland from changing into a scorching battle.

The Taiwan Defense Ministry additionally issued a press release saying: “Conducting a military exercise this time under a pretext not only does not help the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, but also highlights (China’s) militaristic mentality.”

During the workout routines, the PLA navy dispatched 9 warships that have been monitored by Taiwanese intelligence programs, plane and navy ships, officers mentioned.

By Monday, two PLA plane and 6 naval vessels had been detected in what the Taiwan ministry known as “provocations.”

“We seek neither escalation nor conflict, but we do not bow to coercion,” the ministry mentioned. “We have the strongest determination, capability [and] confidence to ensure security.”

The PLA warplanes included J-10, J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighters. Airborne warning and management plane and Y-9 troop transports additionally took half.

Type 054 guided-missile frigates, unidentified missile destroyers, and land-based DF-15 cell missiles additionally participated, in keeping with the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Global Times.

PLA forces performed “a close-in deterrence mission from multiple directions, in multiple dimensions and through an extended time period, forming a situation that the island of Taiwan is surrounded and approached from all directions,” in keeping with the Global Times, which cited a Chinese Defense Ministry assertion.

PLA destroyers and frigates practiced monitoring and concentrating on of simulated “hostile mobile targets,” state-run China Central Television reported.

Overall, the workout routines appeared much less provocative than related army operations round Taiwan launched after then-House Speak Nancy Pelosi’s go to to Taiwan in August 2022.

Those battle video games have been described by Chinese army officers as preparation for a “sea and air blockade” of Taiwan and included missile firings.

There have been no reported missile firings for final weekend’s battle video games.

Col. Shi mentioned the workout routines additionally concerned submarine search and anti-submarine operations.

“The exercise tested the capability of the theater command’s forces in coordinated operations and systematic confrontation,” he advised China’s official army newspaper PLA Daily.

Mr. Lai is the main candidate of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party in elections set for January.

He traveled to the United States for a stopover on the way in which to Paraguay, which has diplomatic relations with Taipei and never Beijing.

China denounced the stopover as a violation of U.S.-China diplomatic agreements.

Mr. Wang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, particularly criticized Mr. Lai on Monday for an interview the Taiwanese vice chairman gave to Bloomberg information urging the promotion of regional democracy.

“What [Mr. Lai] does will only bring grave harm to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Mr. Wang mentioned. “It will only push Taiwan towards the danger of military conflict and lead our Taiwan compatriots to disaster.”

The PLA held related battle video games in April round Taiwan following the go to to California by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The Chinese Communist Party’s Taiwan Work Office mentioned in a press release Saturday: “We are willing to create wide space for peaceful reunification but will never leave [any] room for any kind of Taiwan independence secessionist activities. We will take resolute measures to penalize Taiwan independence secessionist forces and their acts and firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com