How far will the escalation go?
Chinese “planes and warships” have crossed the “median line” of the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said on Friday, denouncing “highly provocative” military exercises. .
“Starting at 11 a.m., multiple groups of Chinese warplanes and warships conducted drills around the Taiwan Strait and crossed the middle line of the strait,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. .
Beijing intends to express its anger after the visit to Taipei of the speaker of the American House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
China on Thursday fired ballistic missiles and deployed its air force and navy in six maritime zones around Taiwan, approaching up to 20 km from the coast and disrupting some of the busiest trade routes in the world.
'Intimidate us'
According to the official New China news agency, the People's Liberation Army "flew more than 100 warplanes, including fighters and bombers", as well as "more than 10 destroyers and frigates" on Thursday.
The exercises, including a "conventional missile assault" in waters east of Taiwan according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense, are to continue until noon Sunday.
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Chinese military fire projectiles at Taiwan Strait
The Taiwanese government told him that the Chinese army had launched 11 Donfeng-class ballistic missiles "in several bursts".
Japan has counted nine, four of which "would have flown over the main island of Taiwan".
The Taipei Defense Ministry, however, did not confirm the trajectory of the projectiles, "considering that the main purpose of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) launching missiles is to intimidate us and in order to protect the capabilities army intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” according to a statement.
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"We did not expect the malevolent neighbor to flaunt its might at our doorstep, and arbitrarily endanger the world's busiest waterways with its military exercises," Taiwan's prime minister told reporters. Su Tseng-chang.
The United States, for their part, indicated Thursday evening that their aircraft carrier USS Reagan would continue to “monitor” the surroundings of Taiwan.