Chinaʼs navy is showing off its biggest muscle-flex near Taiwan since the mid-90s (when the island held its presidential vote). The defense ministry in Taipei says theres an un-announced but very real build-up happening right now.
Sun Li-fang‚ defense spokesperson points out that Chinese vessels are spread-out from south Japan down to the South China Sea: its the largest show of force in decades. The move comes right after President Lai Ching-teʼs recent US-territory stops (which made Beijing pretty mad)
Taiwanʼs military raised its alert-level after spotting some interesting moves: China marked-out seven air zones and put lots of ships in place. In just one day they tracked:
- 47 military planes buzzing around
- 12 navy vessels doing their thing
- 9 “civilian“ ships (probably coast guard) hanging about
The defense folks say Chinaʼs trying to build two naval “walls“ in the Pacific - one close-by and one further out; its like theyre trying to make Taiwan Strait their own private swimming pool. A top security source says these ships arent just floating around: theyre practicing how to block-off the area and push away any foreign ships that might show up
Chinese forces are extra-busy north of Taiwan (near Zhejiang) where 26 aircraft were spotted - while others spread out in the strait and southwest areas. Its worth noting that Beijing hasnt said a word about these moves‚ but they sure dont look like regular patrol stuff