On Monday, the Chinese military announced that they had completed beach landing drills on the province across from Taiwan. According to reports, the drills simulated a beach invasion with “shock troops” evading barbed wire defenses and using smoke grenades.
The military drill, detailed in the People’s Liberation Army newspaper blog, happened in “recent days” and comes as tensions escalate between China and Taiwan.
Reuters reported, “China’s military said on Monday it had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan, though it did not link the exercises to current tensions with Taipei.”
Weibo, the PLA outlet, noted that the exercises were, “divided into multiple waves to grab the beach and perform combat tasks at different stages.”
The beach invasion simulation took place in the Fujian province, which is directly across from Taiwan, and likely took place several days ago as weather conditions in the area have been difficult due to recent tropical storms in the region.
The report from Reuters added, “Fujian would be a key launching site for any Chinese invasion of Taiwan due to its geographical proximity.”
As China has conducted increased military exercises in the region, Taiwan has continued to assert that it will defend itself against any attack from China. Just this past weekend, as Taiwan celebrated its National Day, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that it would stand up to China if necessary.
“After taking complete control of Hong Kong and suppressing democracy activists, the Beijing authorities also shifted away from the path of political and economic development that they had followed since ‘reform and opening up’ began decades ago,” she said. “At the same time, regional order is being challenged in the South and East China Seas.”
She also took issue with China’s recent incursions into Taiwanese airspace. The Daily Wire reported last week that China sent 52 military planes into Taiwanese space, the most planes ever sent in one mission.
“We hope for an easing of cross-strait relations and will not act rashly, but there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure,” Tsai added. “We will continue to bolster our national defense and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves in order to ensure that nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us. This is because the path that China has laid out offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people.”
As The Daily Wire reported, Chinese President Xi Jinping also has advocated for the reunification of Communist China with Taiwan.
“National reunification by peaceful means best serves the interests of the Chinese nation as a whole, including our compatriots in Taiwan,” Xi said.
“Those who forget their heritage, betray their motherland, and seek to split the country will come to no good end; they will be disdained by the people and condemned by history,” he noted.
Although the United States does not recognize Taiwan as an official country, the State Department did say in a statement that it supported Taiwan and urged China to “to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan.”
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Source: Dailywire
