China sent a message to Taiwan and perhaps indirectly to the United States. Chinese officials confirmed that on Tuesday, they conducted several exercises involving air and sea forces, ground forces, and rockets around Taiwan.
According to Beijing officials, China’s military carried out large-scale drills around Taiwan on February 2 in order “to send a severe warning and a message of violent containment against Taiwan Independence”.
The Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan reported that they tracked 19 Chinese vessels in the waters surrounding the island between 6 am on Monday and 6 am on Tuesday. These exercises were unannounced and involved Chinese air and rocket forces as well as ground forces.
Taiwan’s Presidential Office said on X, “China’s provocative actions do not only threaten peace in the Taiwan Strait but also undermine security throughout the region, as demonstrated by drills near Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and the South China Sea. We condemn China’s aggressive behavior. “
The People’s Liberation Army Navy of China (or PLAN as they call it) made an important move by bringing out one of their two aircraft carriers. Taiwan responded forcefully.
Taiwan officials have said they are tracking the movements of China’s Shandong aircraft carrier groups and their carrier group entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zones since Saturday. Taiwan has responded by sending military aircraft and ships and activating land-based missile systems, as reported by Reuters.
“I want to say these actions amply reflect (China’s) destruction of regional peace and stability,” Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said.
China will not stop doing this. This is Cold War-style brinkmanship, posturing to “send a message” that the sender has little or no intention of ever acting on.
Or are they? China’s message has been increasing in recent times.
China, as I’ve often noted, is a nation driven more by momentum than by groundbreaking ideas. And that momentum is undeniable. While the United States tends to view history in centuries, China operates on a scale of millennia. However, the Middle Kingdom may have reached its peak. The country is grappling with a looming demographic crisis—one that, within a generation or two, could threaten its very stability. It’s important to remember that China is not a homogeneous nation but a vast, diverse land with numerous ethnic groups and languages. In the event of a demographic collapse, this diversity could become a fault line, potentially leading to the fragmentation of China as we know it.
Taiwan is not a friendly country with an elected government, but the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman Xi will likely understand this. Taiwan is also the world’s largest producer of microchips, which are found in refrigerators and airplanes.
Desperate circumstances lead to desperate acts. For some people, desperation is near.
