China has announced that it has begun live-fire drills in some parts of the Taiwan Strait. The drills will run for two days and will be from 2200 GMT to 1000 GMT each day around the Dongshan Island, bordering the province of Guangdong.
The timing of this move is very much all about sending a clear signal. It comes just a day after talks between US secretary of state Rubio and China foreign minister Wang Yi in Manila yesterday.
For some context, Rubio said that the US opposes China’s deployment of coast guard vessels near Taiwan and also criticised the recent aggressive encroachments by Chinese coast guard ships into waters near Taiwan.
In his words, China was “undermining the spirit of strategic stability” while acknowledging that the deep policy differences on Taiwan will likely persist “for the foreseeable future”. He also added that the pending US arms package to Taiwan is still under internal review.
And instead of fighting a war of words, evidently Beijing is sending a clear message with its actions today.
As a reminder, China held its most extensive war games encircling Taiwan back in December and that was right after the US unveiled a record $11.1 billion arms package for Taiwan.
So, it’s fair to say that the timing of the latest live-fire drills is definitely not coincidental to say the least.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.
