On October 14, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army conducted military exercises around Taiwan. Li Wenzhong, the executive director of the think tank of the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China, pointed out that countries in the Indo-Pacific region and the NATO democratic allies have taken actions to uphold the freedom of navigation, rejecting the absurd attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to consider the Taiwan Strait as its internal waters. The international concerted efforts to contain China have taken shape.
The military exercise, named “Joint Sword-2024B Exercise”, conducted by the Chinese Communist Party around Taiwan on the 14th had ended in the evening of the same day. On the 19th, the Group of Seven (G7) issued a joint statement expressing concerns about the military exercises conducted by the Chinese Communist Party around Taiwan, reaffirming that the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait are indispensable to the security and prosperity of the international community, and called for the Taiwan issue to be resolved peacefully.
Li Wenzhong, the executive director of the Institute for National Defense and Security Studies of the Republic of China, stated in a post on the group of the National Defense Institute that a week after the Chinese Communist Party’s military exercises, American and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday. The Seventh Fleet intentionally issued a statement on Monday, asserting that it was “sailing through waters where the international law allows freedom of navigation and flight.”
Li Wenzhong mentioned that at the end of last month, for the first time, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force escort ships sailed alongside Australian and New Zealand warships in the Taiwan Strait. In mid-last month, a German warship crossed the Taiwan Strait again after 22 years. In addition, ships from Canada as well as from the United Kingdom and France have demonstrated with actions the defense of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – the freedom of navigation rights, rejecting the Chinese Communist Party’s absurd attempt to consider the Taiwan Strait as its internal waters. The former is the foundation of global free trade, especially globalization.
Li Wenzhong pointed out that in a recent poll in the Philippines, which had been once pro-Communist under the previous president, only 1% of the Filipino people trust the Chinese Communist Party, due to the backlash caused by China’s hegemonic encroachment on the Philippines. China’s unprecedented actions in the South China Sea, such as land reclamation and island building, are robberies and thievery unheard of before, causing the democratic allies to view China as a disruptor of the global order of civilization. Their concerns extend beyond just the Taiwan and South China Sea issues.
He emphasized, “Under the manipulation of leftist, authoritarian, and nationalistic individuals, the magnificent China has long lost its grandeur. The encirclement of China is already taking shape, and everyone must worry about the future of China.”
On the security challenges facing Taiwan, the latest poll released by the Institute for National Defense and Security Studies of the Republic of China on the 9th showed that 63.9% of respondents believe that the territorial ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party pose a “serious threat”, 19.4% see it as an “important but not serious threat”, and only 9.5% consider it “not important”. In terms of defense readiness, the majority (67.8%) of respondents are willing (somewhat willing or very willing) to fight to defend Taiwan.
Regarding the perception of allied support, the poll showed that if China invades Taiwan, over 70% of the people believe that the United States may or will “airlift food or medical supplies to Taiwan”, “implement economic and diplomatic sanctions against China”, and “provide weapons and military supplies to Taiwan”, with 52.6% believing that the United States will “send troops to Taiwan to assist in defense”. In addition, nearly forty percent of respondents believe that even if a conflict erupts between the US and China, the US will still use its navy to break through China’s blockade of Taiwan.