Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said it has detected three Chinese warships, including the Shandong aircraft carrier, passing through the Taiwan Strait as Beijing keeps up pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as its own. The ministry said it was monitoring the movements of the ships and will respond accordingly.
In a tweet, the ministry said the three vessels were headed north along the Taiwan Strait at noon on Saturday and were steering along the west of the median line — an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides. China has stepped up its military activities around Taiwan in recent months amid deteriorating US-China ties.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and regularly sends ships and warplanes into airspace and waters near the island. The ministry also said that in the 24 hours from 6am Friday to Saturday, it detected 33 of China’s People’s Liberation Army aircraft and 10 navy vessels around Taiwan.
Twelve of the aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or entered the island’s air defence identification zone. In response, Taiwan’s armed forces deployed aircraft, navy vessels and land-based missile systems.
In April, the Chinese military said it was “ready to fight” after completing three days of large-scale combat exercises around Taiwan that simulated sealing off the island in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s trip to the US. Last August, China intensified war games around Taiwan, with missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
This week, former US National Security Advisor John Bolton predicted America and its allies will soon be tested by a crisis in the South China Seas. He believes China is considering setting up a 'blockade' around Taiwan before attempting to 'take over' the democratically-run island in the next five years.
Heated rhetoric on both sides recently has sparked fears of conflict, however analysts such as former UN Ambassador Bolton believe China will take a different approach as it would want to keep the island's infrastructure intact, reports The Daily Express US. Bolton believes a prolonged 'air and naval blockade' could be initially be employed by China to gauge the response of America and its allies.
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He said: "Beijing doesn't want a grinding World War One kind of conflict. They want to take over Taiwan with its production facilities, and its infrastructure intact. They want that added to Chinese capabilities. So I think at this point, the more likely scenario, not less dangerous just a different scenario than an outright invasion is they create the pretext for some kind of crisis over Taiwan.
"They throw a naval and air blockade around it. They wait to see if the United States, Japan and others come to Taiwan's side. That's why this question of being able to supply a military effort across the Pacific is so important."
