As the day of Lai Qingde's succession is getting closer and closer, the situation between the two sides of the strait has been turbulent recently. Although he took over the power from Tsai Ing-wen, who also belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party, it can be regarded as a transition within the party, but after all, the two are different factions in the green camp, and compared with Tsai Ing-wen, Lai Qingde's stance on the mainland is obviously more radical.
It is precisely because of this that the mainland side does not seem to intend to greet Lai Qingde in a "kind" way this time, but on the contrary, our army has carried out two successive "active attacks."
First of all, the M503 route was adjusted, which not only alleviated the pressure on the growth of flights in relevant regions, but also compressed Taiwan's early warning time. Subsequently, the Ministry of Commerce said that from April 20, additional tariffs will be imposed on imported polycarbonate originating in Taiwan in the next five years.
In short, the mainland is warning the Lai Qingde authorities not to take any chances, otherwise the mainland will be able to impose sanctions in any field.
Perhaps it is thought that the first two items are just a small fight, so on this basis, the PLA once again attacked the DPP authorities.
According to a report by Taiwan's "China Times News Network" on April 21, from 8:15 a.m. on April 20, in less than three hours, our army dispatched a total of 21 fighters, including J-16 and Y-8, and various types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to appear around the Taiwan Strait.
Seventeen of them flew over the so-called "median line of the strait" and its extensions, and then approached Taiwan Island from the northern, central and southwestern airspace of the Taiwan Strait. It is worth noting that there are also warships to cooperate in this police patrol, and more importantly, on the line, the warships are only 40 nautical miles away from Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
When converted into kilometers, it is only seventy or eighty kilometers, and this distance is only a few minutes for our fighters, even if they reach Taipei. Therefore, if the Lai Qingde government still speaks to the mainland with a strong attitude, if the day of "military reunification" really comes, then whether it is a "decapitation operation" or a full-scale operation, our army will be able to attack the city in a few minutes.
In this regard, Taiwan's military scholar Lu Wenhao said that the PLA was previously implementing the strategy of "boiling a frog in warm water" and forming a psychological warfare deterrence strategy against the Taiwan authorities through high-frequency and low-intensity actions around Taiwan.
Now, not only are the times more frequent, but the number of military planes and warships has increased, so Lu Wenhao also judged that the Eastern Theater will conduct combat readiness patrols no less than three times a month in the future.
This move will cause the DPP authorities to gradually fall into the rhythm of the PLA, from the so-called "24 nautical mile adjacent line" to 12 nautical miles, 6 nautical miles, and finally even directly cruising around the island, so that the warning time of the Taiwan military will gradually collapse.
It is precisely because of this that the Lai Ching-te authorities seem to have begun to coax, and the Democratic Progressive Party, which had never disdained to invite mainland officials to Taiwan, has also begun to show goodwill to the mainland this time.
According to a report by the China Review Press, Zeng Weidong, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office, was recently allowed to visit Taiwan, and after arriving at Taoyuan Airport, Qiu Yisheng, speaker of the Taoyuan City Council, also did his best to be a landlord and warmly entertained Zeng Weidong and others. It is worth mentioning that this is also the first mainland chief who has been allowed to visit Taiwan since the 2024 general election in Taiwan.
In this regard, Zheng Wencan, deputy responsible person of China's Taiwan administrative organ, said that the reason why he took the initiative to invite Zeng Weidong to visit Taiwan was actually the intention of the DPP authorities and even Lai Qingde himself, which also confirmed from the side that Lai Qingde now has no bottom in his heart and does not dare to make further provocative acts against the mainland.
Of course, some analysts say that this may be an expedient measure by the Lai Qingde authorities, the purpose of which is to avoid any accidents during the period of succession.
And at the same time that the DPP was courting the mainland, Xiao Meiqin got into trouble again.
According to a report by Huanqiu.com, Hsiao Meiqin, the deputy leader of the quasi-Taiwan region, asked for the 23 bottles of wine she brought with her to be exempted from inspection when she shipped her personal belongings back to Taiwan in the United States.
Such a big act of privilege made You Zhibin, who once represented the New Party to run for election, directly and publicly bombard Xiao Meiqin, questioning that Xiao Meiqin was importing moonshine, and said that this is a reappearance of the special plane illicit cigarette case?
As of the time of publication, Xiao Meiqin has not made any response, so it remains to be seen how this matter will follow.