Military Flights A Response To US-Taiwan ‘Collusion’: China

(CTN NEWS) – BEIJING – China clarified the reasons behind its threatening behavior by claiming that the increase in airplanes it is sending toward Taiwan is due to the island’s “military collaboration” with the US.

According to Ma Xiaoguang, a China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman, the People’s Liberation Army’s drills “are a stern warning against Taipei’s escalating provocation, which damaged stability and peace in the Taiwan Strait,” he said on Wednesday at a conference in Beijing.

The Democratic Progressive Party, the party in power under Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, “has recently increased military collaboration with the US,” he continued.

Ma said that “all individuals living on Earth know it” when asked what “collusion” specifically included.

That seemed to reference US senators passing a spending measure last month that included $2 billion in weapons funding for Taiwan for the upcoming year and up to $10 billion until 2027.

Beijing’s Defense Ministry previously denounced the US National Defense Authorization Act, alleging that it exaggerated China’s threat and meddled in the nation’s domestic affairs.

The PLA staged its largest drills since those exercises after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, a few days after the defense act was passed.

On December 25–26, the Chinese military sent 71 aircraft to the island, with 47 making incursions into the island’s critical air-defense identification zone or beyond the Taiwan Strait’s middle line.

Although calling the flights “provocative,” the Biden administration insisted it would continue to support the Taipei government’s defense.

The Chinese military activity, according to the National Security Council, “risks miscalculations, destabilizes regional peace and stability, and is destabilizing.”

The incident demonstrates that although relations between Beijing and Washington have improved since President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met at the Group of 20 summits in Indonesia in November, the Taiwan issue continues to be a source of friction.

Nearly twice as many Chinese warplanes conducted incursions near Taiwan last year—1,700—than in 2021.

A hypothetical Chinese assault of Taiwan “soon founders,” but at a great cost to the island and the US Navy, according to a report about a “wargame” created by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which Ma condemned during the briefing on Wednesday.

According to Ma, certain “US think tanks often issue so-called publications under the guise of scholarly research that exaggerate the China threat.”

They are attempting to foment discord among the populace on the other side of the strait while seeking advantages for their military-industrial organizations at home.

The four days of trade negotiations that US and Taiwanese officials will undertake in Taipei beginning on Saturday were also “opposed” by China.

The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which was launched in June, will be discussed at the meeting to develop an understanding on issues like trade facilitation and regulatory standards. In November, officials had “conceptual discussions” in New York.

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