China releases TV documentary showcasing PLA’s ability to attack Taiwan

China renews war threats as Taiwan launches its military exercises Beijing: China Thursday renewed its threat to attack Taiwan following almost a week of war games near the island. Taiwan has called Beijing's claims to the self-governing democracy “wishful thinking" and launched its own military exercises. Taiwan's “collusion with external forces to seek independence and provocation will only accelerate their own demise and push Taiwan into the abyss of disaster,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing. “Their pursuit of Taiwan independence will never succeed, and any attempt to sell the national interest will be met with a complete failure," Wang told reporters. China's attempt to intimidate the Taiwanese public and advertise its strategy for blockading and potentially invading the island was nominally prompted by a visit to Taipei last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The US, Japan and allies have denounced the exercises, with the Group of Seven industrialised nations issuing a statement at a recent meeting expressing its concern. On Wednesday, Britain's government summoned Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to the Foreign Office to demand an explanation of "Beijing's aggressive and wide-ranging escalation against Taiwan”. Taiwan says Beijing used Pelosi's visit as a pretext to raise the stakes in its feud with Taipei, firing missiles into the Taiwan Strait and over the island into the Pacific Ocean. China also sent planes and ships across the midline in the strait that has long been a buffer between the sides, which separated amid civil war in 1949. In a lengthy policy statement on Taiwan issued Wednesday, China distorted the historical record, including the United Nations' 1972 resolution that transferred the China seat on the Security Council from Beijing to Taipei, Taiwan's Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council said. The Chinese statement also discarded a pledge not to send troops or government officials to Taiwan that was contained in previous statements. The UN resolution makes no mention of Taiwan's status, although China regards it as a foundational document proclaiming the Communist Party's right to control over the island. The Taiwanese council's statement said China was orchestrating its moves against Taiwan ahead of the ruling Communist Party's 20th National Congress to be held later this year. President and party leader Xi Jinping is expected to receive a third five-year term at the conclave, after leading a relentless crackdown on political figures accused of corruption, human rights activists and civil society groups. Xi's suppression of free speech and political opposition in Hong Kong was also seen as a factor behind Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen winning a second term in 2020. China says it plans to annex Taiwan under the now widely discredited “one country, two systems" format applied in Hong Kong. The concept has been thoroughly rejected in Taiwanese public opinion polls in which respondents have overwhelmingly favoured the status-quo of de-facto independence. The Chinese statement is “full of wishful thinking, and ignores the facts," the Mainland Affairs Council said in its press release. The “crude and clumsy political operations by the Beijing authorities further highlight its arrogant thinking pattern of attempting to use force to invade and destroy the Taiwan Strait and regional peace," the release said. “The authorities in Beijing deceive themselves. We warn the Beijing authorities to immediately stop threatening Taiwan with force and spreading false information," it said. Taiwan placed its military under high alert during the Chinese drills but took no direct countermeasures. It held artillery drills off its southwestern coast facing China that ran through Thursday, illustrating the challenges the People's Liberation Army would face were it to launch an invasion across the strait. AP China, Taiwan

Pic - Reuters

Taipei: China has released a new documentary about the army’s preparation to attack Taiwan and showcasing soldiers pledging to give up their lives if needed as Beijing continues to ramp up its rhetoric against the self-ruled island.

‘Chasing Dreams’, an eight-part docuseries aired by state broadcaster CCTV earlier this week to mark the People Liberation Army’s 96th anniversary, features military drills and testimonials by dozens of soldiers, of which several express their willingness to die in a potential attack against Taiwan.

China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, as its own territory, to be conquered by force if necessary.

State media and the PLA frequently release propaganda materials promoting the army’s modernization as well as sleek videos of military drills.

The materials serve to fan rising Chinese nationalism and display military confidence against Taiwan and, implicitly, its ties with the United States. While the US Doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country, it has pledged to help the island defend itself in case of an invasion.

Last month, the White House announced a $345 million military aid package for Taiwan. The move, which experts said drew on lessons from the US Military assistance to Ukraine, was criticized by Beijing.

The “Chasing Dreams” documentary showcased, among other things, the PLA’s ‘Joint Sword’ drills, which simulated precision strikes against Taiwan. The exercises were undertaken around the self-governed island in April after a visit by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to the US.

Among the more dramatic parts of the program are pledges by PLA soldiers from various divisions to relinquish life in a potential attack on Taiwan.

“If war broke out and the conditions were too difficult to safely remove the naval mines in actual combat, we would use our own bodies to clear a safe pathway for our (landing) forces,” Zuo Feng, a frogman with the PLA Navy’s minesweeper unit, said in a testimonial.

Li Peng, a pilot from Wang Hai Squadron under the PLA Air Force, echoed his statement, saying his “fighter jet would be the last missile rushing towards the enemy if, in a real battle, I had used up all my ammunition.”

Fan Lizhong, a special tactics unit commander, said in the docuseries that while losing comrades is painful, he has to remain calm to respond to emergencies and always be ready to fight.

The documentary also features Shandong, one of China’s three aircraft carriers, sailing in formation with several other warships.

The PLA has repeatedly dispatched Shandong to the Taiwan Strait over the past few months as a threat to Taiwan. PLA jets have also crossed the strait’s median line, an informal demarcation zone between China and Taiwan, relatively often over the past couple of years, especially in reaction to exchanges between Taiwan and the US That have angered Beijing.

AP

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