Taiwan armed forces on ‘high alert’ as China ENCIRCLES WW3 hotspot island and launches massive live-fire dr...
TAIWAN’S armed forces are on “high alert” after China launched terrifying new military drills encircling the island.
Xi Jinping ordered massive live-fire exercises simulating the seizure and blockade of Taiwan as Beijing continues to threaten to “annihilate” its neighbour.
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China launched the extensive drills, dubbed “Justice Mission 2025”, around Taiwan involving the army, navy and air force.
Officials from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) claim to have created a “shield of justice” around five major ports through the drills.
They released a map showing the blockades – made up of PLA personnel and even rocket forces – completely surrounding Taiwan.
Xi ordered the simulated attacks on “separatist forces” in Taiwan just days after the self-governing island was bolstered by an £8.2 billion US arms boost.
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Taiwan’s ministry of national defence claimed at least 28 coast guard and naval vessels were detected inside Taiwan’s response area during the drills.
Four Chinese amphibious assault ships in formation operating in the Western Pacific were also spotted by the coastguard.
Another 89 aircraft were also called in flying over the same region – marking the largest number of military aircraft detected in over a year.
Taipei hit back by declaring the island is now on “high alert” to defend against any misstep from Beijing during the drills.
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The ministry announced: “We strongly condemn the PRC’s irrational provocations and oppose the PLA’s actions that undermine regional peace.
“Rapid Response Exercises are underway, with forces on high alert to defend the Republic of China and protect our people.”
Three terrifying ways enemies China & Japan could spark WW3 as tensions explode over Taiwan
Three terrifying ways enemies China & Japan could spark WW3 as tensions explode over Taiwan
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Fighter jets were sent up to protect Taiwan’s air space and monitor Beijing’s movements.
Military leaders also scrambled together plans for their troops to take part in war rehearsals to get them prepared for an attack.
Taiwan’s coastguard added that plans will come into place out on the water due to the drills “posing a significant threat to the navigational safety of vessels in Taiwan’s waters and to the operational rights of fishermen”.
Elsewhere, Taiwan’s transport ministry said 857 flights will be disrupted including 74 cancellations across the next 24 hours due to the aerial activity.
Around 100,000 travellers are set to be impacted.
China’s mass drills will continue until Tuesday as Beijing completes its “multi-dimensional deterrence” training, military officials said.
The announcement of the exercises came alongside a stylised propaganda video from Xi’s government.
They shared maps and warning posters urging residents to avoid certain air and maritime areas in three large zones around the southern point of Taiwan.
Two more warnings were put in place to the north and north-west of the island.
These five zones were quickly flooded with destroyers, frigates, fighters, bombers, drones and long range missiles from China’s ever-growing arsenal.
Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command, said the activities will focus on “training for maritime and aerial combat readiness patrols, gaining integrated control and sealing off key ports and areas.”
The drills serve “as a serious warning to Taiwan Independence separatist forces and external interference forces”, he added.
A chilling follow-up statement read: “All those plotting independence will be annihilated upon encountering the shield!”
It comes just weeks after Taiwan’s government fired a stark warning to Beijing, vowing to ready itself for all-out war within two years.
Communist China has never ruled Taiwan, but Beijing has threatened to annex it by force on several occasions in recent months.
The latest war-provoking drills are taking place just days after the US announced the sale of one of its largest weapons packages to Taiwan worth an estimated £8.2bn.
China fiercely protested the sale and hit out at Washington – close allies of Taiwan – for aiding its enemies.
Xi even warned Donald Trump in a phone call earlier this year that Taiwan’s return to China is “an integral part of the post-war international order”.
And Beijing warned on Monday that “external forces” arming Taipei would “push the Taiwan Strait into a perilous situation of imminent war”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said any attempts to stop China’s unification with Taiwan were “doomed to fail”.
The past few years have seen dozens of similarly terrifying dress rehearsal invasions take place in the South China Sea.
China has offered Taiwan a “one country, two systems” solution to prevent an invasion, but this model has been rejected by any mainstream political party in the country.
Fears also continue to grow that the rapidly escalating issues could plunge the region into serious instability.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi even suggested his own military could get involved if China were to attack the self-governed island in the coming months.
Should Beijing’s invasion turn into a multi-nation battle then it risks sparking a global conflict with the US and China at the helm.
Tyrant Xi could “split the world in two” with a catastrophic war should he follow through on his constant threats to seize Taiwan by force, an expert told The Sun.
Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau Chinese Institute, Kerry Brown, believes China taking on Taiwan would cause damage on a “completely different scale”.
He said that if Beijing invades, there’s a strong chance US forces will rally to defend its ally in the region.
Why does China want to invade Taiwan?
TAIWAN insists it is an independent nation after splitting from mainland China amid civil war in 1949.
But China claims Taiwan remains a part of its territory with which it must eventually be reunified – and has not ruled out the use of force to take the island and place it under Beijing’s control.
The island, which is roughly 100 miles from the coast of south-east China, sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.
Taiwan sits in the so-called “first island chain”, which includes a list of US-friendly territories that are crucial to Washington’s foreign policy in the region.
This also puts it in an ideal situation to slow a Chinese attack on the West.
And with tensions between the two nations high, Taiwan is likely to aid China’s enemy if it means keeping its independence.
Taiwan’s economy is another factor in China’s desperation to reclaim the land.
If China takes the island, it could be freer to project power in the western Pacific and rival the US, thanks to much of the world’s electronics being made in Taiwan.
This would allow Beijing to have control over an industry that drives the global economy.
China insists that its intentions are peaceful, but President Xi Jinping has also used threats towards the small island nation.
The major move would dangerously pit two nuclear powers against each other with leaders Xi and Trump among the most fearless around.
Prof Brown said: “Geopolitically, it would split the world into China’s allies and America’s allies.
“This would be multiple times worse than Russia and Ukraine. If it happens, it will create a completely different world – one that we have no clue how it will function.
“They would seriously damage each other and then it could become a global conflict.”
China has a number of notorious allies who would be likely to get involved in some form.
These include the other two members of the Axis of Evil trio in North Korea‘s Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin.
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Classified documents have already revealed that Russia is helping China to invade by supplying tanks and weapons technology.
A report by the RUSI think tank warned the troops and armoured vehicles could swoop onto Taiwanese golf courses close to ports and airports as they are less defended than military targets.
