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© Gordon Arthur

AGGRESSIVE INTENT

China is attempting to pummel Taiwan

into submission

- By Gordon Arthur

rom 8-10 April, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted ited Taiwan last August. The Eastern Theatre
Exercise Joint Sharp Sword as a “stern warning” to Taiwan. In Command specified six restricted zones around
F the exercise’s final 24 hours, the PLA flew 91 aircraft and sailed Taiwan for ships, aircraft and missiles to execute
twelve vessels around Taiwan, including 54 aircraft that provoca- live firing. Eleven ballistic missiles splashed down
tively crossed the Taiwan Strait median line. At least five encounters in these designated areas, including some that
occurred between opposing warships on the edge of Taiwan’s con- overflew northern Taiwan. The PLA sealed the
tiguous zone. The operation was in response to Taiwanese President entrance to Bashi Channel to control maritime
Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in traffic coming from or leaving the South China
California on 5 April, following a diplomatic tour of Latin America. Sea, and naval vessels rehearsed forming a
The PLA was rehearsing a military encirclement of Taiwan, designed blockade. Beijing also declared it did not rec-
to psychologically bludgeon the democratic nation. ognise the Taiwan Strait median line. Afterwards,
aircraft and warships have routinely crossed this
A PLA officer also appeared on state-owned CCTV, criticising line which for decades had served as a de facto
Taiwanese people for not accepting Beijing’s rule. He characterised boundary.
them as “tumours” that need to be removed. He asserted, “The body
will feel pain. But what causes this pain, the scalpels or the tumour?” Growing Proficiency
Unfortunately, China’s national hubris has caused a wrong diagnosis, Professor Collin Koh, research fellow at the
for the malignant disease is actually Beijing’s military coercion that Maritime Security Programme of Singapore’s S.
is unsettling the whole region. When the CNN asked Taiwan’s Foreign Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said
Minister Joseph Wu whether China was threatening war, he replied the PLA grasped “the rare opportunity to test
unequivocally, “Yes, indeed. Look at the military exercises and also associated concepts of operations” last August.
their rhetoric. They seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war
against Taiwan, and we condemn it.” April’s Joint Sharp Sword was on a smaller scale,
though. Koh said: “It introduced a more promi-
The PLA did the same after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vis- nent aircraft carrier dimension to the wargames
ASIAN DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY APRIL-MAY 2023 | 15