Taiwan is a line that cannot be crossed. China is gently repeating this to the American bully, but if things do not change, the motherland will not be afraid to attack to defend its child.
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The Taiwan issue is one of the hottest and most problematic topics in recent years. With the U.S. administration of Donald Trump putting a large number of hawks on China’s government team, relations between the two countries are looming even more on the verge of escalation. Meanwhile, China consolidates its global position and takes strategic precautions.
China rediscovering the Sea
In the biennium 2023-2024, the People’s Republic of China has stepped up planning for training and simulation operations for armed conflicts in the domain of the sea. In China’s millennia-old military tradition, the sea has never been a strong point, nor has China ever had expansionist claims by sailing. It’s said that the sea, for the Chinese, is “that thing there where the land ends.”
Continued provocations on Taiwan by the United States of America, the growing risk of a global war conflict, and the upgrading of military infrastructure, have allowed the PRC to position itself with genuine authority over the sea, no longer able to avoid having to protect national interests and defend borders constantly threatened by Atlantic provocateurs.
On October 14 this year, the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army held a large-scale military exercise called United Sword-2024B, the second exercise of the year, following Joint Sword 2024 in May.
The objective finds its reasons in Taiwan’s existential story and its connection with Mother China: reunification. A doctrine of unity, of shared and constant participation, consistent with the organic political doctrine of contemporary China. The reunification of the motherland is the aspiration of the people, but since Lai Ching-te came to power, he has continued to provoke the mainland with his independence stance, with particular support from the U.S., which continues to press and create tensions and complications for the Chinese, attempting to trigger an anti-Chinese colored revolution.
Taiwan represents a historic opportunity for China to put itself at sea, exploring a domain that in classical geopolitics belongs to the Anglo-Saxon and American worlds, but is now being redistributed among new players and with new navigational maps, in the advent of a multipolar world.
United Sword, cleaving the enemy like a sword
The characteristics of this of the exercise were as follows.
- For the first time, it was proposed to blockade key ports and areas and strike by sea and land: Taipei. Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Taiwan East and Hualien are the largest cities and ports in Taiwan. In other words, blockading Taiwan has become the main option to oppose independence and promote reunification.
- The ultimate goal was the total seizure of power. Not just a part, not limited, not just a victory on the sea of battle, but something comprehensive, including all of Taiwan without distinction, including cultural, economic, and technological aspects.
- The scope of joint military and coast guard operations has been further expanded (recall that several U.S. warships constantly patrol Taiwan’s vicinity, provocatively).
- The results of the exercise were positive and consistent with the intent: having begun the process of military reunification, no problems and risks of failure should intersperse. China is ready for any eventuality.
If we take this exercise in isolation and out of its context, it was not a particularly significant event; but if we include it in recent Chinese planning-such as the successful launch of an intercontinental missile in Pacific waters on September 25, other joint exercises with Russia and India, and intense diplomatic activity to mediate escalation risks-then here the picture becomes clearer.
The implementation of this exercise stands as a preemptive study in understanding the international scenario. The United States and its allies are causing trouble in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. In a world so full of turmoil, China has launched a high-profile precision-guided intercontinental missile, fully demonstrating its powerful strength of having a sharp sword in its hand and having the courage to act.
Foreign media have reported extensively on the matter. Many military experts have pointed out that this time China is demonstrating the Dongfeng-26 medium- and long-range missile with “both nuclear and conventional capabilities”, with a maximum range of 5,000 kilometers. and a flight speed of Mach 18. Also known as the “aircraft carrier killer” and “Guam Express,” it is difficult for the current U.S. anti-missile system to intercept. A real defense of what is called the “second world” in China, namely the territories in the adjacent sea.
There was also a coordinated firing exercise on October 22 on Niushan Island in Pingtan County, Fujian, just 165 kilometers from Taipei City. It is of great significance not only as a response to the U.S. and Canadian warships that crossed the Taiwan Strait on Oct. 20, but also as another deterrent against Taiwan independence forces. The Chinese Army’s ballistic missile system in place has firepower that cannot only cover the entire strait, but can also reach major targets on Taiwan Island.
Meanwhile, the provocative patrolling by American ships continues uninterrupted, along with other ships from vassal countries such as Canada. An annoying and constant presence, justifiable only from the perspective of low-level deterrence.
Politically, Lai Qingde is following the United States in leading Taiwan into an increasingly dangerous war situation. Having turned Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and many other places around the globe upside down, having devastated countless lives and destroyed countless mountains and rivers, they are now preparing to use their “export of democracies” at home on Taiwan in order to contain the rise of mainland China.
China, however, is not ignorant. Any attempt to detach Taiwan from the Motherland will be answered with a step forward in reunification.
Taiwan is a line that cannot be crossed. China is gently repeating this to the American bully, but if things do not change, the motherland will not be afraid to attack to defend its child.
