China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday declared an end to three days of major military exercises it held around Taiwan in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
The drills included live-fire exercises and marked the largest Chinese show of force in the area since then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. Beijing is strongly opposed to high-level US officials meeting with Taiwanese leaders as it views the contacts as an affront to the one-China policy.
The meeting with Tsai made McCarthy the highest-level US official to host a Taiwanese president on US soil since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979. China made clear it would respond to the meeting in some way, but the warnings did not deter McCarthy.
The latest drills, known as the Joint Sword, were shorter than the exercises launched after Pelosi’s visit. But according to The South China Morning Post, the Joint Sword exercises were significant in testing Beijing’s ability to blockade Taiwan and launch precision strikes.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it detected 91 PLA aircraft and 12 vessels on Monday, the most PLA military assets it spotted during the three days of drills. Out of the 91 aircraft, 54 crossed the median line, an informal barrier that separates the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. China started regularly crossing the line in the wake of Pelosi’s visit.
Tensions between the US and China show no sign of waning, as Washington is not backing down from its policy of increasing cooperation and support for Taipei. When Tsai returned to Taiwan, she met with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), who led a bipartisan delegation to the island. While in Taiwan, he told Fox News that sending US troops to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion is “on the table.”
When I was 16 my father told me there more assholes then asses.How come all the people that work for our government National or local or are involved with the military are the latter.
.
Put some chairs around the table and make PEACE, a-holes!
Time for a breakfast bowl!
Inhale…………………………………………………………………Exhale!
Good one. Weren’t you head of the Teamsters negotiating team?
😉
If China decides to blockade Taiwan, the economy of Taiwan will be ruined, and the island won’t be sending any more semi-conductors headed to the US.
I don’t think China wants to do that. But it’s not because they fear the US Navy. They don’t want to do that because it would hurt the people of Taiwan.
It’s too soon to tell. But the DPP party might be swept out of office in the national elections next year because their policies are endangering the many for the benefit of the few…and their foreign interlopers.
If China decides to blockade Taiwan, the US will ignore the blockade — except to destroy any Chinese vessels or aircraft that attempt to interfere with US commercial traffic to and from Taiwan.
Which is one of several reasons why China won’t decide to blockade Taiwan.
The US advantage in naval assets would be neutralized if China declared an exclusion zone around Taiwan. The US surface fleet would be sitting ducks for China’s air force and missiles. China’s air force, supported by it land based anti aircraft defenses would take a very heavy toll on US planes.
China does not want to invade Taiwan and probably won’t blockade Taiwan unless Taiwan declares independence or becomes a threat to the mainland.
China is still confident that in the long run the majority of Taiwanese will support unification.
“The US advantage in naval assets would be neutralized if China declared an exclusion zone around Taiwan.”
What, is there some kind of secret ancient book of spells that causes a “declaration” to magically change the effectiveness of a given array of forces?
Tarot cards TK. 😉
” is there some kind of secret ancient book of spells that causes a
“declaration” to magically change the effectiveness of a given array of
forces?”
Um . . . no magic. Just that any US surface ships in the exclusion zone would be turned to scrap by Chinese air power and land based missiles and artillery. If China decides to take Taiwan, it will be a serious war. In a serious war surface fleets are targets, not assets. As for China’s fleet, about 80 fighters at Okinawa could not contend with the close air and missile cover a land based superpower could bring to bear in the Taiwan strait. Alternatively, China could enforce a complete blockade of Taiwan with air power and ground based missiles and artillery while keeping its surface fleet away from the combat zone in protected harbors.
China has complete superiority in any conflict over Taiwan. However, China does not want to invade because that would make China into an occupying power. A long term occupation would generate a resistance and undo decades of patient persuasion that turned the Kumintang from implacable enemies of the CCP to advocates of detente. China believes that patience pays off and that peace is good for business. The Chinese have been doing foreign relations for almost 4,000 years and they have learned to take a long view.
“China has complete superiority in any conflict over Taiwan.”
China seems to disagree with your assessment. And has said so numerous times. It’s working to make the PLA Navy competitive with the US Navy, and making progress on that, but it isn’t even pretending to have accomplished that yet.
I don’t believe China wants to compete with the US military on a global scale. I don’t believe they could if they wanted to because so much of China’s productive capacity is required to sustain its huge population. China strives for overwhelming superiority in theaters that are priorities to China, like Taiwan. China can accomplish its strategic objectives with 350 to 500 nukes and 1 to 3 aircraft carriers. As for Taiwan, China’s air and ground forces would prevent the US from breaking a blockade. China wants strategic superiority in the South China Sea, the Taiwan strait and the sea of Japan. At some point they probably want to project power to Africa and the Middle East., but not Western Europe of the Western hemisphere. Unless there is a World War, China will never spend on defense the way the US does. In fact, no other country will except perhaps Israel which spends a lot per capita on its military.
This may be off topic, but here is a candid video of the leader of the Tibetan resistance.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7evaw/dalai-lama-suck-my-tongue-video-tibet-china
China’s navy is considerably larger than the US navy, and its supply lines are much shorter. It isn’t at all clear that the US has a naval advantage in China’s home waters.
Thanks Admiral. I’m sure they would never have thought of that.
I expressly stated that they DID think of that.
You expressed an opinion that China’s Navy would be so worried about the US Navy that they wouldn’t blockade Taiwan.
Not exactly, but close enough.
Jan 18, 2020 — Taiwan’s “President” Tsai Ing-wen: “We are an independent country already and we call ourselves the Republic of China (Taiwan), and we have our own system of running the country, and we do have a government and we have a military, and we have elections, like the presidential elections that you have witnessed.”
Jan 28, 2021 — ‘Taiwan independence means war’: China’s defence ministry warns Biden against siding with Taipei.
Apr 11, 2023 — Taipei: It is a sovereign nation’s fundamental right to send its head of state to visit other countries — an issue which China has no right to comment on, the ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the US is supporting Ukraine sovereignty but jabbering about how they will undermine China sovereignty.
. . .from Stripes
A large contingent of Chinese aircraft and warships remained active Tuesday in the waters around Taiwan, despite the official conclusion of their three-day exercise around the island, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said.
Taiwan’s military reported 91 Chinese aircraft and a dozen vessels operating in the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere near the island at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Taiwanese forces continued to monitor the situation with their own aircraft, ships and missile systems, according to a series of tweets from the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense.
China Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, at a Monday news conference, repeated the defense ministry’s warning and said Joint Sword was a “necessary move to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14020122000412/China's-Envy-In'l-Effrs-Dich-Dllar-Gaining-Mmenm-Fas
China’s Envoy: Int’l Efforts to Ditch Dollar Gaining Momentum Fast
https://journal-neo.org/2023/04/11/china-disagrees-with-the-black-and-white-coloring-of-the-world-order/
China disagrees with the “black and white” coloring of the world order