Chinese Military Delivers Warning During Taiwan’s ‘Double 10’ Holiday
Oct. 11, 2020 (EIRNS)—-Both the government-tied Global Times and long-time Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post (SCMP) report on an exercise staged by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), simulating an island invasion on Oct. 10, Taiwan’s “Double 10” holiday.
The “Double 10” holiday celebrates the anniversary of the Wuchang Uprising, a revolt that led to a declaration of independence from the central government by Wuchang and several other provinces in China in 1911. This in turn led to the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China in 1912. Since the Revolution of 1949 by the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the retreat of Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT to Taiwan, the People’s Republic of China, under the “One China” policy, considers Taiwan as a province of China, not a separate nation, and has always insisted that it will use military force if Taiwan and any foreign force attempts to declare Taiwan independent of China.
The military exercises were large-scale joint amphibious landing drills off the Chinese mainland’s southeastern coast, and featured concentrated deployments of unmanned aerial, surface and ground vehicles, and air- and sea-borne attacks from multiple locations.
“Cross-service multidimensional joint amphibious landing exercises recently started in waters off the coast of East China’s Fujian and South China’s Guangdong provinces, in which the combined amphibious forces affiliated with the PLA 73rd Group Army integrated with newly established forces including army aviation, special operation and electronic countermeasures units and comprehensively tested their combat capabilities in realistic war scenarios, China Central Television (CCTV), the state broadcaster, reported on Sunday.
“A large number of amphibious landing ships are seen in the report footage transporting amphibious armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and troops to the target island.
“Before the assault, scout units first conducted reconnaissance on the enemy using aerial drones, guiding strikes on hostile artillery and missile positions. Unmanned ships deployed forward to destroy sea mines and obstacles, opening a safe sea lane, with multiple waves of attack helicopters launching low-altitude aerial assaults in formation on remaining hostile positions, providing cover for the landing forces.”
As previously reported, the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) destroyer entered the South China Seas area, off the coast of the Xisha (Paracel) Islands, on Oct. 9, in a provocation against Chinese sovereignty.
On Oct. 8, the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi issued a letter to Indian media, warning them to follow the “One China” policy in their coverage leading up to the “Double 10” holiday. According to the Hong Kong-based daily SCMP, the letter from the embassy stated that the delegation “would like to remind our media friends that there is only one China in the world, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China.”
SCMP goes on to report, “According to Indian media reports, the embassy’s move followed full-page advertisements placed by the Taiwanese government in two Delhi-based newspapers ahead of the anniversary, which featured an image of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the slogan ‘Taiwan and India are natural partners.’”
In a separate article, covering the PLA drills, SCMP reported that PLA announced “another live-fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait, starting on Tuesday and lasting for four days.
“The drill will be held off the Gulei Peninsula in Fujian province, according to a notice from the local maritime authorities—a location on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait to Kaohsiung city.” However, this is an unconfirmed report, as this is the only press reporting on this at this time.
