With a close eye on Ukraine developments, China issued another warning clearly aimed at Washington as well as its major regional partners like Australia over the weekend which said any nation supporting Taiwan militarily will suffer “the worst consequences”.
China’s Ministry of National Defense further stated “no one and no force” could ever stop the Chinese military from bringing Taiwan under Beijing’s control if it desires. According to Sky News, “The tirade was delivered a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping engaged in diplomatic talks with Australia in an attempt to repair international relations.” And speaking of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the question of West-led sanctions from Beijing’s eyes…
If Sullivan thinks he can persuade China to participate in sanctions against Russia, he will be disappointed. https://t.co/gEgIVKJWca
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) March 13, 2022
The statement was in reaction to Australia’s defense minister Peter Dutton stating his country stands ready to do “whatever we can” to deter Chinese aggression toward Taiwan. It also came in the context of Taiwan just approving an extra $8.6 billion for military spending over the next half decade. Much spending will reportedly focus on beefing up the island’s missile defenses.
On Monday 13 Chinese PLA aircraft breached Taiwan’s air defense identification zone – something which at this point has long been a weekly – and almost daily – occurrence.
But as Reuters underscores, “Taiwan is currently in a heighten state of alert due to fears China could use Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to make a similar military move on the island, though Taipei’s government has not reported any unusual Chinese movements.”
Taiwan’s air force is regularly scrambled in response to such PLA aerial maneuvers near the island. On Monday a Taiwanese Mirage 2000 fighter jet crashed into the sea during what was called a “routine combat training mission”.
According to the details based on Taipei sources:
The solo pilot took off from Taitung Air Base at 10:18 Monday morning and reported a mechanical malfunction roughly an hour later, the Taiwan Air Force said in a statement. The pilot safely ejected some 10 nautical miles south of the base and was rescued.
Air force officials later told reporters that the country’s fleet of Mirage 2000 fighter jets would be grounded for inspections, Taiwan’s China News Agency reported.
It’s actually the second Taiwan air force crash this year, after in January a F-16V fighter crashed into the the sea during a similar routine drill. In that prior instance, the pilot was reported killed, and 140 planes were temporarily grounded pending an investigation.
by Tyler Durden
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