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For more than six weeks, Taiwanese military officers have been wondering where the Chinese fighter jets have gone.
During May, only four people entered the island Air defense identification zone. In the first half of this month, the invasion was only four days, and there was no activity for nine consecutive days. This compares with the previous pattern of up to 20 intrusions per month.
But on June 15, the day after U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders issued a statement condemning China’s “open ambition and self-confident behavior”, 20 PLA fighters, Four bombers with nuclear capabilities and four additional military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.This is the largest number of planes dispatched by the People’s Liberation Army into the area in the history of the People’s Liberation Army. Some of them also bypassed the southern tip and east coast of the island before turning back.
A senior Taiwanese government official stated that after the NATO Communiqué was published, Beijing could not restrain itself—and G7 summit A statement issued a few days ago-criticizing Beijing’s activities in the Taiwan Strait and its suppression of the Hong Kong democracy movement.
“Beijing wants to prove that those in the West who accuse them of hyping the China threat theory are wrong,” the official said, referring to reduced military activity in May and early June. “But of course they can’t stick to it. Once Taiwan gets a little support, they have to respond.”
Chinese analysts say that after the Biden administration has accelerated its efforts to establish a “united front” against China at the G7 and NATO summits, Beijing has no choice but to show its determination-this is what President Xi Jinping’s government has been worried about for a long time. Things but Never realized When Donald Trump was the President of the United States.
“G7 and NATO have been distorted as anti-China platforms,” said Victor Gao, a former Chinese diplomat who currently serves as the Center for China and Globalization (a think tank supported by Beijing). “China has more and more forces that believe that if the United States wants to treat China as its fundamental enemy, then let the United States have an enemy.”
Beijing also responded to the G7’s criticism of its policies in Hong Kong by displaying its force in Hong Kong. Recently, it killed the only one. Public memorial The Tiananmen Square Massacre on Chinese soil in 1989. In the early hours of Thursday morning, the police arrested senior pro-democracy staff. Apple Daily Suspected of “collaborating with foreign countries or external forces to endanger national security.”
A senior official of the National Security Division of the Hong Kong Police Force later said that the arrest was partly related to more than 30 articles published by the newspaper.
Beijing’s actions in Taiwan and Hong Kong were accompanied by harsh rhetoric.Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the most influential people in China Outspoken diplomatThe G7 Communiqué stated that it “exposed the bad intentions of a few countries such as the United States and China to antagonize and expand their differences.”
“The United States is sick,” Zhao added. “The G7 should grasp its pulse and prescribe medicine for it.”
These comments seem to contradict Xi Jinping’s recent instructions. Xi Jinping said last month that official propaganda should “set the right tone, be open and confident, but also be humble, humble, and strive to create a credible, lovely and respectable China. Image”.
However, Xi Jinping also pointed out that China has been involved in an international “controversy of public opinion.” “The powerful anti-China forces in Western society want to attack and discredit China,” Lu Shaye, the Chinese ambassador to Paris, said in an interview with state media last week. “We must fight back to safeguard our own interests. Our sovereignty, security and development interests must not be violated.”
Sun Yun, a Chinese foreign policy expert at the Stimson Center in Washington, said such remarks reflect the growing vigilance of the Xi Jinping administration. “Beijing is indeed worried that a united front is forming [and] Including Taiwan, maritime security and human rights and many other factors that China does not want to see,” Sun said. “That’s why we see Beijing responding to the G7 and NATO with some unusual harshness. “
Hong Kong police blew out candles lit by activists to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.Beijing demonstrates force in Hong Kong in response to G7 criticism of its Hong Kong policy © The Associated Press
“Germany, France and other EU countries are hesitant to confront China [openly as] America,” added Shi Yinhong, a professor at Renmin University of China, who advises the State Department on foreign policy issues. “But when dealing with China, they are now closer to the United States. “
Some Chinese officials and analysts believe that although Beijing will continue to respond forcefully when Taiwan, Hong Kong or other “core interests” are criticized, this does not rule out cooperation with the United States on climate change or other issues. Global tax reform.
Fu Ying, the former Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, stated at a recent seminar that the Biden administration hopes to “stop China from continuing to replace the United States.”But she added, “We hope [technological and economic] The competition can be managed to ensure that it is on a positive track, pushing each other to seek common development and progress.”
Gao said that Beijing “should stand firm on issues of principle, but not be distracted by anti-China hostility.” “In the long run, China’s economy will surpass that of the United States-no one can change this. Time is on China’s side.”
Additional reporting by Xinning Liu in Beijing
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