During the epidemic, Chinese military planes continued to fly around Taiwan to warn domestic and foreign politics

During the epidemic, Chinese military planes continued to fly around Taiwan to warn domestic and foreign politics

The epidemic in Wuhan has spread and the air over the Taiwan Strait is not calm this week. From February 9th to 10th, the Chinese People's Liberation Army dispatched military aircraft such as H-6 and F-11 in a 24-hour period to perform "long-distance sea training" to fly around the island of Taiwan, and briefly crossed the centerline of the Strait on the 10th.

The Taiwan Ministry of National Defense confirmed this news and stated in a press release that the Taiwan Air Force closely monitored the PLA military aircraft with F16 air reconnaissance aircraft and air defense forces, and implemented broadcast evacuation. The PLA aircraft immediately returned to the airspace west of the mid-strait centerline.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the mainland, responded to reporters on February 10 that the PLA military plane ’s detour was "a new action to warn and crack down on Taiwan independence and prevent the United States from collaborating with Taiwan. We advise the DPP authorities not to play with fire."

Taiwan ’s Ministry of Defense spokesman Shi Shunwen said that the two-day long-distance training of the PLA ’s military aircraft was “the Chinese Communist Party ’s use of planned actions to conduct regular training in the Western Pacific Ocean. The purpose is to specifically demonstrate the meaning of strategic deterrence to neighboring countries.”

Some analysts believe that while the epidemic in Wuhan is still spreading, the Chinese People's Liberation Army has made a major move to bypass Taiwan and cross the centerline of the Taiwan Strait in order to target the trip to the United States that was concluded by Taiwan's vice president Lai Qingdegang.

China counters Lai Qingde's visit to the United States

Regarding the high-profile circumvention of Taiwan by the People ’s Liberation Army this week, China ’s official media Global Times stated: “The outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic will not affect the PLA ’s combat effectiveness. We send warships and military aircraft to bypass the Taiwan Strait. The goal is to target Taiwan independence elements. . "

Roundabout criticized Taiwan ’s Vice President-elect Lai Ching-teh for his seven-day visit to the United States.

According to external analysis, although Lai Qingde currently has no public office and visited the United States for a week on February 3 as a private person, as the vice president-elect, Lai went to the White House National Security Council to meet with US officials for 70 minutes. It was a break between Taiwan and the United States. Forty years later, the highest-ranking Taiwanese official visited Washington. In addition, Lai Qingde attended the annual "National Prayer Breakfast Meeting" held in Washington on February 6th, with US President Trump, Vice President Pence and important religious leaders of various countries.

Scholar Shelley Rigger, a long-term scholar on cross-strait relations, explained to the media: For China, Lai Qingde has a clear image of Taiwan independence and is a dangerous Taiwan independence figure in the Tsai Yingwen team. Therefore, Lai Qingde and Trump met to There is a lot of risk for Taiwan, and Beijing will react strongly.

Lai Qingde has publicly stated on several occasions that he is a "pragmatic Taiwan independence worker." He also emphasized that Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent country called the Republic of China. It is not necessary to declare Taiwan independence.

US-Taiwan military wrestling continues

Ian Easton, a researcher at Washington ’s key think tank "Project 2049 Institute" studying East Asian military deployments, previously accepted a BBC Chinese interview and stated that F16 is an excellent strategic weapon for Taiwan, and it is mainly useful for China in recent years. The provocation by military planes around the airspace around Taiwan many times, as well as the suffocating oppressive strategy, have a stopping effect.

After being re-elected by Tsai Ing-wen this year, Yi Si'an published a post in the Taiwanese media's "Freedom Times", commenting that China's military deployment against Taiwan has been rushed, but the United States and Taiwan have not yet waited for the start and just started.

In 2017, Taiwanese military researcher Wu Yinong wrote in the New York Times that Taiwan had reduced the number of active military personnel from 400,000 in 1996 to well below 200,000 (the exact number is classified). "Almost two million reserve forces exist only in official documents: they are almost unequipped, are not integrated into any combat unit, and most are not called for retraining."

Yi Si'an also mentioned that the US Department of Defense recently tested two prototypes of weapons, one is a land-launched cruise missile and the other is a land-launched ballistic missile. "It seems to be tailored to help defend Taiwan and resist Chinese invasion. "

"Taiwan has also quietly developed a small number of Xiongfeng-2E land-launched cruise missiles that can penetrate the interior of China," Yi Si'an added.

He predicted that the Taiwan military might launch more new weapons in the future, including missiles that can reach Beijing.

Former Taiwan naval instructor Lu Lishi told the Taiwanese media United Daily News that the PLA ’s detour was intended to warn the United States.

Lu Lishi observed that since late January, the United States and China have been engaged in several training confrontations in the waters around Taiwan and the Philippines.

He pointed out that on January 31, the U.S. military had a B-52H bomber, which took off from the base in Guam and entered the Taiwan air defense identification zone with a missile attack route, which caused great concern among countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

Lu Lishi believes that the US move is to simulate a pinch attack on the 161 formation of the annual joint long-distance joint training of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) who entered the Philippine Sea through the Strait of Bus with the American Expeditionary Strike Group trained in Philippine waters. "The PLA plane warship detour was actually a tough response to the recent US military activities in the East China Sea."

However, there are also senior Taiwanese media sources who said that the People ’s Liberation Army (PLA) around Taiwan was Xi Jinping telling Chinese society and warning domestic political opponents that even if Wuhan is in a difficult situation, he is still the master.