Commentary
Over the past several years, the People’s Liberation Army Navy has been saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait, East China Sea, and South China Sea.
Chinese warships were conducting “intensive combat exercises,” as noted by Newsweek, and, more recently, practicing what long-time China watchers James Fanell and Bradley Thayer referred to in The Washington Times on May 23 as “a Joint Fire Strike [exercise] in August 2022 and [a] Joint Anti-Air Raid [exercise] in April 2023.” They also speculate that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will conduct a “joint island landing” exercise this fall that will be a practice run for the full-on invasion of Taiwan. These exercises go far beyond psychological warfare and the intimidation of Taiwan, which Beijing has been escalating under Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s direction since 2020….