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News Desk: Tension escalated across the Taiwan Strait after China launched a series of military exercises around Taipei in response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While the United States, Australia and Japan urged China to immediately cease its military exercises, Beijing flexed its military prowess in a video shared by state media on Twitter.
Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese government, posted a video with the caption, “Footage of on-the-spot of PLA’s drills around the island of Taiwan. Highlights included 100+ warplanes being deployed, China’s new-generation aerial refueler YU-20 was unveiled, and over ten destroyers and frigates conducting a joint blockade exercise.”
The propaganda video showcases China’s military might. From warplanes, to the unveiling of new-generation aerial refueler YU-20, the video of the joint blockade exercise is a warning to Taiwan, the island Beijing claims as its own territory.
China says it has begun exercises involving warplanes, navy ships and missile strikes in six zones surrounding Taiwan. Those lie as little as 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the island’s coast, potentially infringing on Taiwan’s territorial waters. The drills are seen in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
China has increasingly forcefully declared that Taiwan must be brought under its control, by force, if necessary, and in defiance of the US and other backers of the island’s democracy.
China’s President Xi Jinping has said Taiwan’s fate cannot remain unsettled indefinitely and US military officials have said China may seek a military solution within the next few years.