How China surrounded Taiwan for three days with warships, fighter jets and aircraft carriers

China siege taiwan for three days with military maneuvers in which dozens of combat planes, an aircraft carrier and warships were deployed. Beijing simulated precision strikes against key targets on the island and its surrounding waters and an “air blockade”, raising tensions in the area.

The exercises are in response to last week’s meeting in California of Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wenwith the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, kevin mccarthy.

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Only on Monday, the last day of maneuvers, Taiwan detected 12 warships and 91 Chinese aircraft around the island.

The location of Taiwan.

The maneuvers, called “Joint Sword”were “successfully completed,” he said China on Monday.

Through a statement, the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) He said the exercise “fully tested the integrated joint combat capability of multiple sectors of the army under combat conditions.”

“Forces in command are combat ready at all timesand will resolutely destroy any kind of separatist attempt or foreign interference of ‘Taiwan independence’”the statement added.

For its part, the Ministry of Defense of taiwan reported Monday that, over the past 24 hours, four Chinese J-15 fighter jets crossed into the southeastern part of the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

Photo released by Japan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff shows Chinese fighter jets taking off from the aircraft carrier Shandong.

According to CNN, based on the records of the Taiwan Ministry of Defense, it is the first time that the J-15s have crossed the ADIZ.

Meanwhile, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Japan confirmed in a statement that his forces observed 80 fixed-wing aircraft takeoffs and landings from the aircraft carrier shandongwhich was in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan and approximately 230 kilometers south of the Japanese island of Miyako, in Okinawa Prefecture.

The evening news shows Chinese fighter jets on an aircraft carrier. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

In response, Japan sent fighter jets from the Air Self-Defense Force, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Drills on Monday focused on “maritime blockades” and “targeted ambush attacks against enemy mooring vessels” in the Taiwan Strait, as well as in the northwest, southwest and waters east of Taiwan, Chinese state channel CCTV reported.

China He warned on Monday that Taiwanese independence and peace on both sides of the straits are “mutually exclusive,” blaming the tensions on the Taiwanese government and “foreign forces.”

“If we want to protect peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, we must firmly oppose any form of Taiwanese separatism”warned Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

This U.S. Navy file photo taken on May 22, 2018 shows the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) as it arrives in Yokosuka, Japan. (AFP). (GARRETT ZOPFI/)

In the midst of this tension, The United States sent a missile-launching destroyer Monday near some islands in the South China Sea that Beijing disputes with countries in the area.

According to a statement released by the Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Millius sail “near” the Spratly Islandswhich China disputes with the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, in an exercise in defense of “freedom of navigation consistent with international law.”

The US destroyer in waters claimed by China. (AFP).

He added that it carries out “normal operations” within 12 nautical miles (the limit established by the UN to designate the sovereignty of a state in maritime territories) from the Mischief reef, in the spratlywhich China has occupied and which is disputed by Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, according to the EFE news agency.

For his part, Russia supported China’s military exercises near Taiwan on Monday.

“China has the sovereign right to react to provocative actions, for example by carrying out maneuvers”the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, told the press.

A photo provided by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense shows FACG (Fast Attack Craft, Guided Missile) ships of the Taiwan Navy sailing in an undisclosed location, on April 10, 2023. (EFE).

in military maneuvers “Joint Sword” China mobilized its aircraft carrier “Shandong”, which is one of the two in operation and the only one built entirely in China. It was put into service in December 2019, explained the AFP agency.

It is the first time that he aircraft carrier “Shandong” participates in military exercises that include the siege of taiwan.

China also fielded 052C destroyers and 054A frigates. The 054A model is designed for anti-aircraft combat and equipped with HQ-16 intermediate-range surface-to-air missiles, capable of hitting targets 50 kilometers away, according to defense magazine Naval Technology.

In this image taken from video broadcast on April 8, 2023 by China’s CCTV, a Chinese fighter jet performs a mid-air refueling maneuver at an undisclosed location. (Photo: AP).

As to fighter jetsChina deployed J-15, J-16 and J-10C fighters.

He J-15 it is the version of the J-11 twin-jet fighter that was developed for use in China’s growing aircraft carrier fleet, according to CNN.

The J-16designed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, are capable of carrying short-range combat missiles as well as long-range air-to-air missiles, according to the state-run Global Times newspaper.

According to the AFP agency, experts believe that J-16s are China’s preferred fighter jets to test the island’s air defense.

This photo taken on December 23, 2016 shows Chinese J-15 fighter jets taking off from the aircraft carrier Liaoning. (Photo: AFP). (STR/)

This weekend’s maneuvers also included early warning and surveillance aircraft type KJ-500which have 360-degree radar coverage, according to Janes, a company specializing in military information.

State media also reported the deployment of Y-8 aircraftcapable of detecting submarines, a model already used for patrolling in the East China Sea.

China also used YJ-12B missileswhich targeted ships in a simulated fire exercise against Taiwan.

It is a land-based version of the YJ-12 supersonic missile, which has a range of 460 kilometers and can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, according to the US organization Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

DF-11 and DF-15 short-range conventional ballistic missiles they were also used in the exercises.

According to Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, the DF-15 is capable of “reaching Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and northern India from mainland China.”

China consider the island of taiwan as one of its provinces that it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. It has not ruled out using force to seize control of the island.

The military exercises are part of a broader campaign of “pressure against Taiwan,” Ja Ian Chong, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told AFP.

In his opinion, the meetings of senior officials of USA with representatives of taiwan they allow China to blame Taipei, Washington, or others for situations like weekend military exercises.

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (right) and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speak to the press after a meeting in Simi Valley, California on April 5, 2023 (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP). (FREDERIC J. BROWN /)

While analyst Carl Schuster, former director of operations for the US Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Center, told CNN that the PLA was “practicing and likely refining the air coordination and joint operations required to initiate a blockade of Taiwan’s ports and air routes.

A Chinese blockade of Taiwan could choke supplies entering the islandincluding any military aid or other shipments from the United States or its partners, CNN reported.

“The United States, through the Taiwan Relations Act, is legally required to provide Taiwan with defensive weaponry, but remains deliberately vague when answering whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack,” CNN remarked.

The military might of China and Taiwan. (AFP).

Source: Elcomercio