Communist China has taken some fairly heavy-handed measures to shout to the world at large that they are "ready to fight."
The current enemy of the U.S. has declared its full-scale readiness for war in the wake of finishing a three-day series of large-scale military exercises in the area surrounding Taiwan this past Monday, as reported by ABC News. The defense ministry of Taiwan has stated that it was able to track roughly 91 fighter jets from China just off its coast over the course of the last day of these exercises in the wake of dozens of other warplanes crossing the maritime median line of the Taiwan Strait on Sunday. The state-run media of China claimed that these planes had been laden with live ammunition.
Throughout these exercises, China also carried out a number of simulated attacks against "key targets" throughout Taiwan, and the communist country’s state-affiliated media chose to air an animation built by the People’s Liberation Army about an invasion of Taiwan.
WATCH:
China has released footage of military drills and attack simulation off coast of Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/fEEP5J7Q8Q
— Dan Collins (@DanCollins2011) April 9, 2023
Both Chinese and Taiwanese warships had a bit of a scuffle this past Monday when one Taiwanese frigate warned the Chinese to avoid Taiwan’s contiguous zone. Audio records of the event reportedly showed that the Chinese military fired back to the Taiwanese warning by claiming, "The 24-nautical mile contiguous zone does not exist. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China."
The Chinese-owned ship allegedly ended the back and forth by claiming, "The People’s Republic of China is the sole legal representative of the whole of China."
These most recent threatening actions from Beijing take place just a scant few days in the wake of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the U.S.
"As the president, I represent our country in the world, whether it’s a visit to allied countries or stopping through in the U.S. and interacting with our international friends, and not only has this been going on for years, it’s the Taiwanese people’s shared expectation," expressed Tsai earlier this week. "But China used this as a pretext to start military drills, creating instability in the Taiwan Strait and region. This is not the attitude of a responsible major nation in this region."
As the former security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, Gen. Keith Kellog (Ret.) explained this past Tuesday to Fox News that China is planning to invade Taiwan soon, and he it not quite sure if the Biden admin is "up to this fight."
"[T]his is going to come to a head within two years," concluded Kellog. "I think Xi [Jinping] looks at this as a long-range effort. He’s just started his third six-year term and I think what’s going to happen, he says there’s a window of vulnerability within the next two years."