China conducts navy workout routines, missile take a look at close to Taiwan

Depending on the magnitude of Chinese exercises in the coming days, the move could be seen as the most provocative action against Taiwan in decades.

THE China begins this Thursday, 4th, a period of military exercises and missile tests in the outskirts of Taiwan. The move will last four days, according to the government in Beijing.

Taiwan is about 200 kilometers (by sea) from mainland China.

The move comes a day after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a whirlwind visit to Taiwan.

Some signaling from both sides in the so-called “Taiwan Strait”, which connects the island to mainland China, is not uncommon: exercises, passing of military vessels and other movements have been recorded several times in recent years.

But the Chinese movement on the outskirts of Taiwan from this Thursday (not started until the closing of this report) happens in direct response to Pelosi’s visit.

The last time an official of the same rank visited Taiwan was in 1997, which made the visit of the Democratic Party lawmaker a historic milestone – and angered the Chinese government.

Depending on the magnitude of Chinese exercises in the coming days, the move could be seen as the most provocative action against Taiwan in decades.

Taiwan has had an autonomous government since 1949, the year the Chinese Communist Party of Mao Tse-tung won a civil war that had lasted since 1927. The then overthrown leader of China, Chiang Kai-Shekfled with political allies and took refuge in Taiwan, founding a shadow government.

The case has turned into a dispute between the “two Chinas” ever since.

Currently, the US no longer recognizes Taiwan’s independence and base their diplomacy on the concept of “one China”recognizing communist rule in mainland China since the 1970s.

Despite that, the Americans say they defend the “status quo”, that is, that Taiwan continues with autonomous government against China, even if not as an independent country.

The White House has been trying to convince China that Pelosi’s visit should not become a global crisis and that it does not represent a change in its “one China” policy. The US government claims that Pelosi (who is from President Joe Biden’s party) made the decision to go to Taiwan on her own.

China read the trip as a threat to its sovereignty and said, before Pelosi’s departure, that the move could have “consequences”.

Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan comes even as the governments of both Biden in the US and Xi Jinping in China are experiencing strong internal pressure.

Biden faces legislative elections this year in which Democrats are on track to lose their majority in Congress, while Xi Jinping is due to be reappointed to the Communist Party Congress, but suffers from a slowing economy and the effects of the pandemic.

Although the situation between China and Taiwan is old, currently the possibility of the conflict escalating to global levels, involving China, the US and other powers, is added to the scenario. The situation at home between the two governments could intensify pressure for more shows of force in foreign policy – ​​like this Thursday.

Source: Exam