China launched its most extensive war games around Taiwan on Monday to showcase Beijing’s ability to cut off the island from outside support in a conflict, testing Taipei’s resolve to defend itself and its arsenal of U.S.-made weapons.
The Eastern Theatre Command said it had deployed troops, warships, fighter jets and artillery for its “Justice Mission 2025” exercises to encircle the democratically governed island, conduct live fire and simulated strikes on land and sea targets, and drills to blockade Taiwan’s main ports.
The live-firing exercises will continue on Tuesday across a record seven zones designated by China’s Maritime Safety Administration, making the drills the largest to date by total coverage and in areas closer to Taiwan than previous exercises. The military had initially said artillery firing would be confined to five zones.
Does this make Estonia an imperialist country in your opinion?
Estonia in this case is comparable to Taiwan. I.e. a small country trying to increase their capabilities to defend against tyrant Russia.
Oh, so you support North Korea’s military expenditure to protect itself from the USA? Should Cuba buy $11bn in military armament to defend itself from tyrant USA? You also rightfully support Hamas in its defense against Israel?
Wasn’t aware that the US was trying to annex North Korea and Cuba lmao
The USA has carried out a massive military deployment next to Venezuela, which has Caribbean waters, and has started murdering civilians and even attacks on mainland Venezuela. Do you really think Cuba or North Korea have fewer reasons to be afraid of USA invasion than Taiwan does of China, the latter not having participated in armed conflict in over 3 decades? The USA is actively carrying out military exercises in the Korean Peninsula.
Are you trying to portray Trump foreign policy as the norm for the US while also comparing it to Russia/China’s consistent imperialism over decades?
What an absolutely uneducated take. China hasn’t taken military action since more than 3 decades ago, whereas the USA in the 21st century alone has warred in Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria and many more. Please tell me one single event of “Chinese imperialism” in the last 30 years that remotely compares to the USA invasion of Iraq.
You named countries where wildly varying forms of US military action were taken for different reasons, most of those being justified and legally backed, none for purposes along the lines of annexation/subjugation. You think China’s bullying of Taiwan (seeking annexation), Philippines…doesn’t constitute imperialism because they haven’t pulled the trigger yet? Uyghurotta be kidding me
“The USA invasion of Iraq was justified” is not a take I thought I’d be seeing on Lemmy tbh. I will now disengage, won’t get anything from someone who thinks that the hundreds of thousands of murdered in Iraq were justified.
I mean I more or less support any country to develop military power to defend themselves, from the USA or any others. It’s the application of military power to practice realpolitik that I don’t support.
Why is it that talkies are having a very hard time understanding a difference between training to invade vs training to defend?
From the article itself:
How is China the aggressor here? Imagine if Cuba suddenly imported $11bn in weapons from Russia, do you think that would warrant no reaction from the US administration?
Soooo China is building sophisticated, highly specialized barges for establishing a beachhead without a harbor and moving heavy machinery across. These would be pretty helpful in a sustained campaign against Taiwan.
These ships happen to be able to connect to the many Chinese “civilian” roll on-roll off (roro) ferries that are built to military spec and can handle Chinese tanks.
These “civilian” roros happen to participate in military exercises.
Considering this all took place well before the arms deal, that’s probably a good reason why China can be considered the aggressor. Maybe the $11.1 billion in arms deals is in response to that?
There’s also xi jinping saying that the unification of Taiwan and China is “unstoppable” in a speech today, right after these military exercises.
/s
Who has China killed exactly by doing military training exercises?
What kind of military exercises are they doing?
Be specific. What scenario are they practicing here?
Per the article:
So, preventing US interference in case of a conflict. This says nothing about invasion.
Just like Russia was doing completely innocent military exercises near the Ukrainian border in the run up to waging all out years long war on its much smaller neighbour. Oops, sorry, no, you don’t call it that, you call it a three day “special military operation”.
/s in case you missed it.
Again the angry boy complaining about the imaginary invasion of Taiwan!!
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
You say this while supporting a military US ally?
Do you believe Taiwan is going to invade the PRC?
No, but in the likely case of a USA-started miltary conflict or economic blockade of China in the region, Taiwan is essentially an unsinkable USA aircraft carrier full of military bases, and is likely to collaborate with USA aggression. After all, Taiwan routinely carries out similar military drills with the USA.
In the case of any superpower actually being invaded, nukes would start flying everywhere. It wouldn’t make a lick of difference if any island has 5 or 500 airbases.
Are you really this dense?
I did not say “China getting invaded” though, did I? I specified the possibility of a military blockade of China’s seas
She was asking for it, did you see what she was wearing?
Oh, I wasn’t aware that China actually invaded Taiwan! When did that happen? Oh, wait, it’s only in your mind, I see.
“No, you see, my side is the good one and the defensive one in the upcoming war”
-Every nation in every single war in history
Whoever is trying to capture territory from the other side is the invader by definition, putting the other side on the defence, as per definition.
Are you saying Estonia wants to invade Russia? Dude’s clown costume’s made from diamonds
Oh, sorry, I forgot, when did China invade Taiwan? Or anyone for that matter, since China hasn’t participated in a single war in 40 years.
Expansionism can happen without official war declaration, but still a conflict. See: Tibet, Honk Kong, parts of Mongolia
You mean the Taiwanese claim over such territories? I agree, it’s disgusting
Thank God the PRC liberated Hong Kong from British colonial rule!
This is delusional and you know it. Some obsolete map you pulled out from history and somehow trying to present it as a valid argument. Taiwan just wants to be independant, they don’t want to start conquering Asia, take the pills.
The “obsolete” map, pulled from Wikipedia, is the territorial claims of the Republic of china as of 30th of December of 2025, definitely not obsolete.
As for the identity of Taiwanese people, you’re very sure of something that’s hugely polemical within Taiwan:
The manufacturing of a Taiwanese identity is fairly recent as you can see, and still many people feel both Chinese and Taiwanese.
Are you worried Taiwan is going to invade Beijing? Is chinas army that incompetent?
I mean, it would be cool if they did but I don’t think even corrupt Chinese generals are that worthless.
No, I’m not worried Taiwan is going to invade Beijing. I’m worried that the USA will attempt to put in place a seafare blockade against China together with the puppet nations of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, attempting to generate a casus belli for China against either of them and to manufacture another Ukraine but in the Chinese Sea.
You are not sane.
Either that, or it’s your job.
I mean, there is some nuance to be considered here. The USA has made it abundantly clear that they plan for a major conflict in the South China Sea for over a decade now.
When they finally left Afghanistan, the plan wasn’t to bring the troops home and never go on another campaign again. It was about shifting priorities. That’s what we’re seeing now.
I don’t mean to downplay the aggressive aspects of this military exercise, I’m just saying there are multiple shades of gray here and that we lose some of the power to explain what’s happening if we amp up the contrast too much.
Yayyy, ableism!
You know the word, but not its meaning.
Please explain me how using “you are not sane” randomly to users on the internet you disagree with is not ableist
You don’t invade something that’s already yours.
CCP never had a claim on Taiwan
I don’t know about that, but I think the whole framework of “historical legitimacy” is flawed. Regardless of history, it’s ultimately the people who get to decide what government is legitimate for them.
If a majority of the Taiwanese wanted to be ruled by CCP then it would already have happened
deleted by creator
Taiwan was never a separate country from the rest of China. It’s only being separated because America wants it separated. A divided China is a weaker China.
CCP didn’t take it when the current Taiwan gov moved there, they only took the mainland.
That’s literally the definition of how countries split in two
The countries have not split into two. It’s still one country.
Both ROC and PROC agree on this.
Only America wants to break them apart because they can make Taiwan a vassal state similar to how they broke Korea apart and make South Korea a vassal state of the American empire.
They so not agree on this, stop watching CCP propaganda. CCP is the only one pushing for this in the entire world with some allies like Russia simply backing it up. This is an imperialism move and you know it.
Stop watching CIA propaganda. CIA has spent billions on anti-China propaganda. They’re so good most Americans aren’t even aware of it
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/china-cold-war-2669160202/
Congratulations you’re Mongolian (or Roman or British)
Do you have any idea how many countries do the same thing yet are considered different countries? Russia insists Ukraine is part of them (for incoherent historical reasons), you have the European east block, plenty of countries named East X versus West X.
You even mentioned Korea yourself where both insists they’re one country but the whole world understands there’s 2 separate countries claiming the same territory but each with control of separate subsets of that territory, and they de facto operate as separate countries. Considering the opposing government as illegitimate doesn’t negate its existence.
Your worldview is incoherent.
This honestly feels like mental illness. Imagine rapist screaming at the victim “I can’t get stronger unless we unite” while threatening to kill her.
Dude, get over it, Taiwan has moved on, they have their separate lives and don’t want anything to do with China, just like Ukraine (who was part of Soviet union) does not want Russia and will likely result in a long and costly war. I too would go guerilla of someone tried to invade my country.
False equivalence.
It’s like China starting a war between California and the rest of America and supplying California with weapons then saying California is a separate country.
And since China helped California in the war, China established their military base in California to help defend California.
Reading this would have Americans shaking and crying but this is exactly what America did.
California?! Lmfao. Taiwan is a small island, not the arguibly second most important state. Also, you really should learn history because the comparison you did makes no sense when you know what actually happened. It’s more like French giving up their territory overseas but not telling to whom they are actually giving it to, leaving the “ownership” to be dealt with by others, and since “others” can’t agree on it, then nothing changes and Taiwan stays independant.
California and Texas belong to Mexico. Give them back!
Free Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and Cuba!
WHATABOUT THIS!! ---->>> WHATABOUT THAT!! <---- WHATABOUT THERE!! ^ NOW WHATABOUT THESE!
Ever seen a headless chicken fighting for his life?
That’s not whataboutism at all, that’s extrapolating the logic of a claim to another case in order to test it.
Laughably incomparable.
Yeah, Estonia are ‘The Good White Guys™’ whereas China are ‘Le Evil Asiatic Empire’
Are you mentally ill or something? That was a defensive exercise and this has nothing to do with race.
No. They’re just a tankie. Probably paid by the CCP for propaganda or trying to increase their social credit score.
Oh god, not the 2015 social credit score propaganda… I expected better from Lemmy tbh, I hoped that people competent enough to understand the good parts of the Fediverse would be able to discern from the most obvious bullshit propaganda in the world. You’re just showing you haven’t ONCE talked with a Chinese person from China about the topic…
I AM a tankie btw, in that I support Actually Existing Socialist states in their struggle against western imperialism, I just don’t get paid for it. You should contact the Chinese authorities, I’d love to get paid for this!
No need to go to ableism. I’m aware you don’t consciously think that Chinese people are bad, but in your worldview, any military exercise or defense expenditure done by non-west-aligned nations is intrinsically evil. This is rooted, again subconsciously, on white supremacism (or its less explicit brands: eurocentrism and american exceptionalism).
So, China’s military exercise done, according to the article, in response to an $11bn purchase of weapons to the USA by Taiwan, is not defensive in nature?
But… are you though?
Not diagnosed
Consider yourself diagnosed.
haha ableism fun :D
That is completely untrue. Even Russia conducts its exercises mostly professionally and I don’t object.
If you think what China is doing is a defensive exercise, you are so biased that you are unable to see reality. They are encircling sovereign territory and practicing for a land invasion and blockade to subjugate the Taiwanese people and steal their land. I would like to hear your explanation for how https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLA_Navy_landing_barges are defensive in nature.
The weapons that Taiwan has purchased is a direct response to Chinese imperialism, aggression, and threats. Taiwan is not threatening Chinese people, but the opposite is not true.