China prepares world opinion for moves on Taiwan Strait

FPI / September 25, 2020

Geostrategy-Direct.com

By Richard Fisher

As the global death toll from the Chinese Wuhan coronavirus approaches one million people, China wants the world to also know that it is ready to start a war against the 23 million free people of Taiwan.

On Sept. 9 and 10, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF) held joint exercises southwest of Taiwan.

At times these exercises were held a mere 90 nautical miles (166km) from Taiwan, and involved PLAN Y-8 anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, PLAAF Su-30MKK twin-engine strike fighters, PLAAF J-10 single engine fighters, Type 052 destroyers and Type 056 corvettes.

These exercises were likely intended to practice joint PLA operations to blockade Taiwan.

They were also located halfway to Taiwan’s Pratas Island, which China has threated earlier in the year.

One day after the exercises, Sept. 11, Hu Xijin, editor and chief of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) controlled Global Times, issued a call for China to go to war against Taiwan.

Hu declared that if China has the “means” to win and is “morally justified,” then, “I believe China can be free to engage in war if it has to.”

Hu went on, “If we win on the battlefield at the expense of our international morality, we might mistakenly help the US build an anti-China alliance that challenges our strategic position even more.”

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