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Taiwan Strait

Agence France-Presse

<p>BEIJING -- China launched fighter jets and other aircraft over the Taiwan Strait on Monday as part of military drills aimed at sending a &quot;warning&quot; to the self-ruled island.</p><p>Here, AFP looks at the critical waterway and growing military flashpoint:</p><p>- Where is the Taiwan Strait? -</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JE0mSCHy_Nc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span>The strait separates the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian from the main island of Taiwan, home to around 23 million people.</div><p>At its narrowest point, just 130 kilometers (about 80 miles) of windswept water separates the two major landmasses, and several outlying Taiwanese islands -- including Kinmen and Matsu -- lie just a few kilometers from the Chinese coastline.</p><p>China and Taiwan have been governed separately since Mao Zedong&#x27;s communist army won a civil war and sent the opposition nationalist forces fleeing across the strait in 1949.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/10/13/china-launches-military-drills-around-taiwan-702">READ: China says launches military drills around Taiwan</a></div><div><strong>- Why is it important? -</strong></div><p>The strait is a critical artery for global shipping through which a huge volume of trade passes every day.</p><p>Around $2.45 trillion of goods -- more than a fifth of global maritime trade -- transited the strait in 2022, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.</p><p>Taiwan plays an outsized role in the global economy thanks to producing over 90 percent of the world&#x27;s most advanced computing chips, used in everything from smartphones to cutting-edge military equipment.</p><p>Analysts say a Chinese invasion would deal a catastrophic blow to these supply chains.</p><p>More minor disruptions, such as a blockade of the island, would cause costly shipping cancellations and diversions that would impact worldwide consumers.</p><p>&quot;In the event of a long conflict over Taiwan, financial markets would tank, trade would shrivel, and supply chains would freeze, plunging the global economy into a tailspin,&quot; Robert A. Manning, a China expert at Washington&#x27;s Stimson Center, wrote this year.</p><p>A report by the Rhodium Group estimated that a blockade of the island could cost firms dependent on Taiwan&#x27;s chips $1.6 trillion in revenue annually.</p><p>An invasion would also endanger Taiwan&#x27;s way of life, embodied by its democratic freedoms and boisterous elections.</p><p>It would also risk a wider conflict because the United States, while not recognizing Taiwan diplomatically, has an agreement to help the island defend itself.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/11MXIfEGMss?&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span>Beijing said that it had launched military exercises called &quot;Joint Sword-2024B&quot; in areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan.</div><p>The armed forces deployed fighter jets, bombers and warships in the strait, and also simulated a rocket strike, state media said.</p><p>The military also said it had deployed an aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, to &quot;strike on maritime and ground targets in the waters and airspace to the east&quot; of the island.</p><p>The coast guard said four fleets were conducting &quot;inspections&quot; around the Taiwanese mainland and disclosed other patrols near Matsu.</p><p>The drills &quot;test the joint operations capabilities of the theater command&#x27;s troops&quot; while sending a &quot;stern warning to the separatist acts of &#x27;Taiwan Independence&#x27; forces&quot;, according to Chinese authorities.</p><p>Taiwan has condemned the actions as &quot;irrational and provocative&quot;, and the US has called them &quot;unwarranted&quot;.</p><div><strong>- Has this happened before? -</strong></div><p>In late May, three days after the inauguration of President Lai Ching-te, China launched Joint Sword-2024A, an apparent precursor to the latest drills.</p><p>The Chinese military also held three days of drills encircling Taiwan in April last year in response to Lai&#x27;s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, meeting with then US Speaker Kevin McCarthy.</p><p>And in 2022, Beijing launched over a week of maneuvers after McCarthy&#x27;s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan.</p><p>Several major crises punctuated the preceding decades, most recently in 1995-6, when China conducted missile tests around Taiwan.</p><p>It is not yet clear how the drills announced on Monday compare in scale and intensity to those of previous years.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>China launched fighter jets and other aircraft over the Taiwan Strait on Monday as part of military drills aimed at sending a "warning" to the self-ruled island.</p>

China launched fighter jets and other aircraft over the Taiwan Strait on Monday as part of military drills aimed at sending a "warning" to the self-ruled island.

The Taiwan Strait: Crucial waterway and military flashpoint

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The Taiwan Strait: Crucial waterway and military flashpoint

Agence France-Presse,

Matthew Walsh

Published Oct 14, 2024 03:49 PM PHT

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Updated Oct 14, 2024 04:38 PM PHT

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