China announces that its military exercises blockading the island of Taiwan, scheduled to end on Sunday, have been extended:
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday continued military exercises and training activities surrounding the island of Taiwan, marking an extension from the previously announced schedule. Drills like these will not stop and are expected to become routine until reunification, as the Chinese mainland shows its determination to push forward the reunification process after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to the island last week that seriously violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, experts said.
The drills not only lock the island from inside out, but also from the outside in, telling external forces that the PLA has powerful area denial capabilities in the region that even the US cannot rival, analysts said.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command continued realistic combat-oriented joint exercises in sea and air space around the island of Taiwan on Monday, focusing on joint anti-submarine warfare and sea assault operations, the PLA Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.
Monday’s exercises mean that the PLA has extended its drills surrounding the island of Taiwan, which were originally scheduled to conclude on Sunday noon.
“As long as the Taiwan question is not solved, drills like these will not stop,” Song Zhongping, a Chinese mainland military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Monday.
I suspect the Chinese are very aware that the US military is going to be unable to interfere with its actions in the South China Sea, being distracted by the Ukraine situation as well as what appears to be the incipient arrest of President Donald Trump.
This doesn’t mean that the final reunification push is on yet, but it is an indication that it might be coming.