The PLA's exercise around Taiwan Island entered its fifth day, and Taiwan's "Ministry of National Defense" held an extraordinary press conference on the 8th. At the meeting, in response to the question of "whether the Chinese communist ships and planes have ever entered within 24 nautical miles from Taiwan Island and the nearest few nautical miles from Taiwan Island," the Taiwan military has never responded positively, but insisted that the PLA warships and planes "have never entered" the "territorial waters" or "territorial airspace" 12 nautical miles from Taiwan Island. Regarding the previous footage of the PLA warship approaching Hualien, the Taiwan military still insisted that the photo was "fake news." Some netizens on the island left a post below this message, saying: No matter how many nautical miles, the PLA military exercises are already very close to the island of Taiwan, and "the DPP is really awesome."
At the Taiwan military's press conference on the 8th, the caliber of the mainland military in dealing with the mainland military exercises was also nothing new. According to a Taiwan military official, since 8 o'clock on August 4, the Taiwan military has begun to "strengthen its vigilance": the army's combat readiness unit has been upgraded to a special contingent, the navy and air force have increased mobile standby ships and ground alerts, and the air defense missile position has been increased by 5 companies.
Earlier, regarding the people's liberation army missiles flying over the island, the Taiwan military neither intercepted nor issued an early warning, which caused an uproar on the island. In this regard, the Taiwan military defended at a news conference on the 8th that the Taiwan military "grasped and analyzed the "trajectory and landing point" of the mainland missiles at the first time, "immediately completed the preparation of intercepting missiles," and "judged that there was no impact on the island, so there was no air defense warning."
The Eastern Theater announced the footage of the exercise in the sea and airspace around Taiwan Island on the 8th. (Eastern Theater)
"The Taiwan military's enigmatic air defense capability," Tan Chuanyi, a researcher at Taiwan's Institute for International Strategic Strategy, said in a mocking remark on the 7th that the mainland military exercise confirmed that without the assistance of the US military, the Taiwan military would not be able to discover the missiles and rockets launched by the PLA on its own. ”
As for plauskats that cross the "median line of the strait," Taiwan's military responded by "driving away by radio broadcasting, and the fighters took off to respond; The Navy dispatched reconnaissance cruisers to "sail together" to monitor PLA ships; Air defense units attach missiles to warplanes as a response.
On the 8th, the Eastern Theater continued to conduct joint exercises in the sea and airspace around Taiwan Island, focusing on organizing joint anti-submarine and sea assault operations
On the 8th, Tsai Ing-wen used "Father's Day" to send a message thanking the officers and men of the Taiwan Army who still stuck to their posts in the face of the "threat" of the continental army exercise. However, this sensationalism was immediately ridiculed by netizens on the island: "The military's press release for 4 consecutive days has not changed word for word, is the military's determination worth thanking?" Former foreign affairs official Jie Wenji of the Taiwan region said in the program "Big News Vernacular" that the PLA's island bypass exercise has become the "new normal", and Tsai Ing-wen should be responsible for this, but the DPP authorities have used the "spiritual victory law" and "Ah Q governs Taiwan", which is difficult to explain to the people.
Tsai Ing-wen infographic (Source: Taiwan Zhongshi News Network)
While the PLA military exercises have disappointed the people in the Taiwan military, they have also shattered the dream of "defending Taiwan by the United States." Huang Kuibo, an associate professor at the Department of Foreign Affairs at Taiwan Chengchi University, said that the crisis can be seen that the United States will not "send troops to protect Taiwan" as many Taiwanese people think. "When the porcupine became a roast pig", Taiwan's "Zhongshi Electronic News" commented on the 8th that the United States deployed more than 4,000 missiles on the entire island of Taiwan to create an "island of porcupines". However, the crisis caused by Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has made this "porcupine" appear. The commentary said that Taiwan spent a large amount of military expenses to honor the United States, bought a lot of "big hair" but the result was useless, neither dare to intercept, nor dare to say a word, can only let the warships on the other side of the strait come to Hualien to "whale watching" and "punching cards" as if entering no man's land!
Source: World Wide Web