China tries to play down Taiwan Strait military exercises to avoid upsetting the US
- Elite forces mobilised for training exercise, but Beijing describes them as ‘routine drills’ to avoid antagonising America
China has mobilised some of its elite military forces for an exercise near the Taiwan Strait but has softened its rhetoric to avoid antagonising the United States, military analysts said on Monday.
The Military of Defence announced on Sunday that the People’s Liberation Army was staging “routine drills” close to the Taiwan Strait – less than a week after Washington approved the sale of US$2.2 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan and following a visit by the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, to New York.
Beijing regards the self-ruled island as a renegade province and has warned the US not to cross its red lines by fostering formal relations with Taipei.
According to the announcement by the Ministry of Defence, the exercises are part of the PLA’s annual plans and affect the air space and waters “along China’s southeast coast”.
Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming said “China’s southeast coast” consists of the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian and runs from the East China Sea to the Taiwan Strait.
