China resumed military exercises around Taiwan on Monday and opposed calls from the West and Japan to complete the largest military exercises in its history near the island it considers part of its territory.

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continued to conduct joint practical exercises and training in the naval and airspace around the island of Taiwan, with a focus on conducting joint submarine and naval attack operations,” the Chinese military’s Eastern Command said in a statement. Said. announcement.

The text does not report the maneuvering areas or whether it was carried out with real ammunition.

According to preliminary information from the China Maritime Security Administration, the exercises were in principle supposed to end on Sunday.

But on Sunday, neither China nor Taiwan confirmed the result. Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport only mentioned a partial discount.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday denounced the “total disproportionateness” of the Chinese response and issued a joint statement with their counterparts in Japan and Australia calling for an end to the exercises.

China began live arm maneuvers in six large areas around Taiwan on Thursday, a day after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.

In response to Pelosi’s second-ever trip to the US presidency, China suspended co-operation with the US on several key issues, including the fight against climate change and defense issues.

It has also deployed warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles around Taiwan, which analysts see as a simulated blockade and island invasion.

China Air Force official Zhang Zhi, quoted by the state news agency Xinhua, said the maneuvers made it possible to “test the combat tactics of knowledge-based systems and refine and improve their ability to destroy strategic island targets with precision strikes.”

At the same time, China announced that it would make new maneuvers in the Yellow Sea, which is between the mainland and the Korean peninsula, until August 15.

Simulate island attacks

The military said on Sunday that China “is holding joint exercises at sea and in airspace around the island of Taiwan as scheduled”.

He added that the exercises are aimed at “testing joint ground firepower and long-range air strike capabilities”.

China considers Taiwan, an island of 23 million inhabitants, as a province that has yet to be reunited with the rest of its territory after the end of the Chinese civil war (1949).

Taiwan’s defense ministry has confirmed that China has sent “planes, ships and drones” around the Taiwan Strait that “simulate attacks on the main island of Taiwan”.

The file identified 66 aircraft and 14 ships, including 22 that crossed the midline dividing the sea area in the strait that separates mainland China from the island.

China does not recognize this line drawn unilaterally by the United States during the Cold War.

A Chinese drone flew over the island of Kinmen, 10 kilometers from Xiamen, China, forcing the Taiwanese military to launch flares, according to local officials.

power demonstration

The Chinese military released a video of the island’s coast and mountains taken by a pilot to show how it approached the Taiwan coast.

He also posted a photo showing the island’s coastline from afar, which he claims was taken by one of his military ships patrolling near Taiwan.

“China’s brutal use of military force is disrupting peace and stability,” Taiwan Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang said on Sunday.

The island’s army has remained vigilant during the Chinese maneuvers and plans to start the exercises from Tuesday.

According to analysts, the maneuvers reveal that the Chinese military is increasingly capable of drastically blocking Taiwan and blocking the arrival of American forces.

“In some areas, their capabilities may even exceed those of the United States,” Grant Newsham, a researcher at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies and a former US Navy officer, told AFP.

“If a (future) war is limited to the area surrounding Taiwan, the Chinese navy is a dangerous competitor. And it will be very difficult for Taiwan if the Americans and Japanese don’t intervene for some reason,” he added.