Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday authorized the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct military exercises around the island of Taiwan. It was the news of the day because of the impact it had on the world. Not because of training, but because of the array of weapons that the Chinese stuck in the South China Sea, practically overnight.
Chinese agency XinhuaThe Air Force and Naval Aviation Corps fielded more than 100 combat aircraft, including fighters and bombers, to conduct combat exercises such as joint reconnaissance, aerial refueling, airspace control and attacks on ground targets, with live fire.
Already at sea, in this theater of operations, the Chinese had 10 destroyers and naval warships engaged in exercises to block the waters off the island of Taiwan.
In addition to all these weapons of war, many ballistic missiles were also tested, especially until this Friday 11. Some of them, revealed the Chinese press, flew over the island of Taiwan, and Japan also confirmed some fall in its sea.
A real war theater, albeit in exercise mode, is scheduled to stop only next Sunday, according to the Chinese government.
The US is talking about a ‘significant increase’
However, US diplomatic chief Anthony Blinken criticized China’s military maneuvers around Taiwan, calling them “provocations” that signal a “significant escalation” in tensions.
Blinken even felt Beijing had no “pretext” to start exercises in the Taiwan Strait, which protested Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island this week.
The speaker of the US House of Representatives also spoke about the exercises this Friday, calling it “ridiculous” that his visit to Taiwan could harm the island and asserting that the goal was to maintain international standing.
“Our delegation does not want to change the status quo in Asia or Taiwan,” Nancy Pelosi said during a press conference at the US embassy in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Malaysia and South Korea, democracies he tried to “celebrate” with the trip.
“It’s ridiculous”Pelosi said when asked about the criticism that her visit to Taiwan would have done more harm than good to the territory, prompting massive Chinese military exercises and economic retaliation around the island.
Penalties against Pelosi
This Friday, China announced sanctions against US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi after her visit to Taiwan.
According to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pelosi “severely interfered in China’s internal affairs and undermined its sovereignty and territorial integrity”, prompting Beijing to “impose sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family”.
This is not the first time that China has imposed economic sanctions on US rulers Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to President Donald Trump, have already been targeted by sanctions, barred from entering China or doing business with Chinese companies.
*With agencies
