TAIWAN WILL NOT ALLOW PLAN SHIPS OR FISHING VESSELS TO CROSS THE CENTER LINE OF THE STRAIT OF TAIWAN
Photo credit: U.S. Navy
A senior defense official from Taiwan said Monday that the country will never allow mainland China's military vessels to sail through its territorial waters.
Andrew Hsia, deputy defense minister in Taiwan, told legislators that the Ministry of National Defense has been closely monitoring mainland Chinese navy ships and government vessels and will not allow them to navigate beyond the middle line of the Taiwan Strait. READ THE COMPLETE STORY IN THE CHINA TIMES. There is nothing really new here. Taiwan has had this policy since before the PLA was a real navy. Today there is no way that Taiwan could keep the PLA out if they really wanted to come in. The Dragon however bases part of its excessive island claims on possessions of Taiwan which it considers as a "break away province". Subjecting one of the Plan's ships to even a losing attack by Taiwan would expose the real status of Taiwan as fiercely independent. By making some of their claims in the name of Taiwan, Taiwan has a stake in not upsetting the mainland's apple cart. So the game continues as if China , the Dragon, didn't have over 1800 armed ships between the PLAN and their new Coast Guard. Militarily the PLAN can go anywhere it wants in the China seas but has political and legal reasons for not wanting to cross the line with Taiwan. The Dragon plays hard ball with U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines but avoids clear , overt acts of war......so far.
,
,
CHINA
No comments:
Post a Comment