The latest large-scale Chinese military and coastguard exercises around Taiwan mark a significant escalation in its bullying of the independent island which Beijing regards as a province which must be “reunified” with the mainland. Last week China sent 76 aircraft and over 20 navy and coastguard ships, including the Shandong carrier group, to positions around Taiwan in exercises that included simulated landings and attacks on infrastructure. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said its forces were practising “seizing comprehensive control, strikes on sea and land targets and blockade operations”. He has taken steps to strengthen Taiwan’s defence posture, holding the country’s most serious civil defence mobilisation drills in decades. READ MORECritics of the US administration warn that its policy of “strategic ambiguity” in defence of Taiwan, an unwillingness to say what it would do if China invades, may under President Trump, be emboldening Beijing.

Source: The Irish Times April 07, 2025 07:16 UTC