Chinese Military Activity Increasing Amidst Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Jordan Villa
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Nine PLA aircraft were seen last week entering Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ on February 24th according to Taiwan’s defense ministry. Taiwan’s air-force scrambled and were successful in deterring the PLA aircraft. These missions by the Chinese have been a common occurrence in the past 2 years and with what’s happening in Ukraine, Taiwan is right to be on high alert.
Taiwanese jet fighters were sent up to warn the eight Chinese j-16 fighters and one Y-8 reconnaissance aircraft last Thursday. The same day, Chinese defense ministry representative Tan Kefei repeated the notion that the reclamation of Taiwan was a “core issue” of China’s.
China has proclaimed its disdain for any country who aids the Taiwanese military, especially the United States. The spokesperson also directly addressed Washington saying to “stop playing with fire on the Taiwan issue.”
Although president Biden indirectly said that Taiwan was on its own urging that “we are not encouraging independence.” In a 12-page Indo-Pacific strategy laid out by the Biden administration, they vowed to commit more security resources to the region.
This latest display of non-violent military aggression by China has been the only one since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, Taiwanese president Tsai lng-wen has called for an increased vigilance of Chinese military movements, ordering for all military units to “raise their surveillance of military developments around the Taiwan straight.”
Despite the world showing massive abhorrence for Putin’s actions in Ukraine, China doubled down on their stance on Taiwanese independence. “Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China. This is an indisputable legal and historical fact” stated Chinese official Hua Chunying.
At this point, the invasion of Taiwan by Chinese forces is inevitable. However, China’s ambassador to the United Nations stated during the last meeting of the UN security council that China doesn’t believe “the door to a peaceful solution has yet been closed.”
Contradictory to their memo, last year they issued a warning to all countries who choose to acknowledge Taiwanese independence. “Taiwan’s independence means war.” China is watching how events play out in Ukraine and more importantly, how President Biden chooses to respond.
So far, nothing the Biden administration has done or said has had any effect on Putin or the invasion of Ukraine, Xi Jinping is undoubtedly pleased with what he’s witnessing.
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