May 24, 2024
Tensions are rising around Taiwan with Taipei monitoring dozens of Chinese warplanes and naval ships off its coast. Maneuvers that come on the second day of a major exercise by the People’s Liberation Army in response to the new leadership of the island. The Defense Ministry said it had spotted 49 warplanes and 19 Navy ships, as well as Chinese Coast Guard ships. The Taipei government responded by mobilizing its armed forces, including planes, ships and missile units.
The Taipei coast guard reports that four Chinese coast guard ships have entered the “restricted waters” of two Taiwanese islands while Beijing continues its military exercises around the island. “China is requested to exercise self-restraint and immediately stop irrational behavior,” the Taiwanese coast guard said, ensuring that it “will take a firm position to safeguard national sovereignty and security.”
China, for its part, accuses the president of Taiwan, William Lai (Lai Ching-te), of “playing with fire” and of “pushing the island towards war” with his statements, which – Beijing says – “challenge the principle of ‘one China'”. This is called “‘playing with fire’ and those who play with fire end up getting burned”, we read in a note from the Chinese Ministry of Defense, with the statements of the spokesperson, Colonel Wu Qian, after the start of military maneuvers Chinese near the island, de facto independent but which Beijing considers a “rebel province” and for which it wants reunification.
