In just two hours, 23 PLA military planes took to the air to patrol around Taiwan. What exactly did Lai Qingde say when he sought dialogue?
According to a report issued by Taiwan's defense department on the evening of the 14th, in the evening of the same day, in just two hours, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched 23 sorties of military aircraft to conduct the second joint combat readiness patrol in the direction of the Taiwan Strait this month. For a time, the northern and central parts of Taiwan Island and the "southwest airspace" were all PLA on three sides. Among the 23 sorties, including Su-30, Y-8 and unmanned aerial vehicles, 15 of them crossed the so-called "center line of the strait" and its extension line into the northern, central, and "southwestern airspace" of Taiwan. It has been learned that earlier this month, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a joint combat readiness patrol in the Taiwan Strait, when the PLA dispatched a total of 26 military planes and five warships. Compared with last month, the PLA conducted four joint combat readiness patrols, which were held on the 2nd, 14th, 20th, and 27th. What's more worth mentioning is that the previous joint combat readiness patrol was during the day; In both cases in May, it starts in the evening. Obviously, this shows that the PLA has begun to practice exercises in the evening.
With regard to the PLA's actions in the Taiwan Strait, public opinion on the island has linked them to Lai Ching-te, the new leader of the Taiwan region, and believes that this is a way for the mainland to increase pressure on Lai Ching-te before he takes office on 20 May to prevent his "derailment performance" and at the same time to counteract the secret "joint military exercise" held by the "United States and Taiwan" in April. Speaking of which, by the way, just last month, the US military and the Taiwan military quietly held a so-called "joint military exercise" in the western Pacific, which was unusually low-key, and recently some British media exposed it. In response to such acts of the "United States and Taiwan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin clearly drew a "red line" in his response, telling the DPP authorities that "seeking independence by force" and "resisting reunification by force" are dead ends and doomed to failure. At the same time, he urged the US side to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques, and stop the erroneous act of military collusion between the United States and Taiwan.
The exercises and training activities carried out by the PLA in the Taiwan Strait were originally a legitimate move to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and at the same time, they were a deterrent countermeasure to interference by external forces and provocations by "Taiwan independence" forces, and they were also necessary actions to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. It is normal for public opinion on the island to speculate on such a situation. It is undeniable that the PLA has recently strengthened its regular patrols around Taiwan, and recently, the PLA 052D destroyer Lishui (port number 157) in the waters around Penghu and the Taiwan Navy's "Chenggong-class" frigate Zhang Qian (board number 1109) briefly clashed, which was a small episode in the process of the PLA's strengthening of the normalized patrol mission around Taiwan. Under this kind of military deterrence of the PLA, Lai Qingde, who claims to be a "pragmatic 'Taiwan independence' worker," has also begun to seek dialogue. He not only claimed that after he officially took office, he would uphold a rational and prudent attitude in handling cross-strait relations, and would resolutely safeguard the status quo of peace in the Taiwan Strait, with peace as the goal, so that the Taiwan region can develop steadily. At the same time, he also stressed that "the two sides of the strait should carry out self-confident exchanges to enhance mutual understanding, understanding, and reconciliation," and he also hoped that the DPP authorities and the mainland would "carry out benign dialogue responsibly."
In addition to the PLA's military deterrence, there are actually other reasons for Lai Qingde's "change of tune" so quickly, such as the pressure exerted by the United States; previously, Rosenberg, chairman of the so-called "American Institute in Taiwan," visited the Taiwan region five times, and one of the purposes of this was to "knock" Lai Qingde and ask him not to express some overly radical cross-strait policies and propositions during the inauguration ceremony. Of course, the United States is also doing this for its own sake, after all, the current United States has been overwhelmed by the two conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, Palestine and Israel, and this year is the year of the US presidential election, and the Biden administration certainly does not want the tension in the Taiwan Strait to further escalate to the point of being uncontrollable. Although Lai Qingde has "changed his tune" somewhat, his thief's heart of seeking "independence" is still not dead, and as far as the Taiwan region is concerned, reunification is its only option, and there is nothing else. If "Taiwan independence" is not eradicated, the PLA will continue to step up military training and preparation for war and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.