After some members of the US parliament travelled to Taiwan yesterday, China conducted heavy military drills near Athens. This has caused further tension in the Chinese Taiwan Strait. The tension started with US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan earlier this month.
Nancy Pelosi defied China's warning to visit Taiwan recently. China said in a statement that it was "very dangerous" and that the speaker of the US House of Representatives was "playing with fire". However, Nancy Pelosi declared that her visit was in honour of the United States' unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan's vibrant democracy and was not inconsistent with US policy.
Less than an hour after Pelosi's plane landed in Taiwan, China announced that its military would conduct a series of military combat exercises in the air and at sea around Taiwan this weekend. China has warned that live bombs will be used in the exercise and that ships and aircraft should not enter these areas. As Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, Chinese media reported that Chinese military aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait between mainland China and Taiwan. However, Taiwan denied it at the time. It is noteworthy that 20 military aircraft later admitted that they came within Taiwan's air defence zone. Despite the deep economic ties between Taiwan and China, China imposed embargoes on various Taiwanese goods in protest of Pelosi's visit.
Meanwhile, China suddenly engaged in serious war drills on the Taiwan border after the visit of the US Speaker of the House. AV engaged in intense combat training with sophisticated missiles. China had announced that the exercise would end on Sunday. But even after that, the rehearsals were extended.
In response, Taiwan also stepped up artillery exercises. In addition, Taiwan's military responded by saying that it is ready to face China if it goes to war. In this situation, as the conflict between the two countries is expected to increase in the coming days, it is noteworthy that the warships and warplanes belonging to China engaged in combat training yesterday in the sea area and airspace around Taiwan as the members of the American Parliament have gone to Taiwan.
Taiwan is an island about 100 miles off the coast of southeastern China. Many experts say that if China seizes Taiwan, it could freely assert its power in the western Pacific region and threaten US military bases as far away as Guam and Hawaii. At the same time, Taiwan ranks high on the so-called "first island chain", a list of US allies important to US foreign policy.
China claims that Taiwan is under its control. But America did not accept this. China's current main objective is to become a world superpower. It is America's attempt to continue to be a superpower.
The capture of Taiwan is seen as necessary for China to achieve its objectives. The United States is currently seen as an obstacle to this move. The US hopes that China will not try to take over Taiwan by force. The US has avoided making explicit security guarantees to Taiwan. Although it does not have a mutual defense treaty with it, there is no doubt that the US will intervene militarily if China invades Taiwan. At the same time, US President Joe Biden has warned that if China invades Taiwan, the US military will be deployed against China to defend Taiwan, and the international media has also confirmed that the US will be deployed for Taiwan.
