Month: April 2023

Forty-two Chinese warplanes and eight ships were detected around Taiwan on Saturday, officials said, as Beijing announced a three-day combat readiness exercise and patrols near the island after the Taiwanese president met with the U.S. house speaker in California. Twenty-nine of the morningtime sorties involved Chinese air force J-10, J-11 and J-16 fighter-jets that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait – the de facto boundary between Taiwan and mainland China – Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said.  It marked the largest incursion into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) this year. An ADIZ is an area where foreign aircraft are tracked and identified before flying farther into a country’s airspace. China carried out the maneuvers three days after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy near Los Angeles – the first meeting of its kind on American soil, despite angry warnings from Beijing. The ministry “condemned such irrational actions and will defend Taiwan’s security with solid combat readiness,” it said. Also on Saturday morning, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command announced in a statement that “United Sword” drills would take place from April 8 to April 10 “as planned.” The Command’s spokesman, Col. Shi Yi, said the exercise would be held in the Taiwan Strait and in the sea and airspace to the north, east and south of Taiwan. Last August, the Eastern Theater Command held a week-long military exercise around Taiwan right after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island. China considers Taiwan a Chinese province and has repeatedly protested against support extended by “external forces” to the island. In addition, the Chinese military will conduct live-fire drills for five days in April in waters off Fuzhou, the capital of southeastern Fujian province near Taiwan, according to the provincial coast guard, which issued a navigational warning for the area. Another live-fire exercise will be held on April 10 at Pingtan island in the Taiwan Strait. Aircraft of the PLA Eastern Theater Command conduct joint combat training exercises around Taiwan after the visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Aug. 7, 2022. Credit: Xinhua via AP Taiwan’s defense ministry said it was monitoring the situation and would respond accordingly “to defend our country.” In recent years, China has “continued to send aircraft and ships to harass the region,” the ministry said in a statement. “It even used President Tsai’s visit to the United States as an excuse to conduct military exercises, which has seriously damaged regional peace, stability and security.” Taiwan’s military would respond calmly and rationally in order not to escalate tensions, it said. On Thursday, after the Tsai-McCarthy meeting in California, Beijing promised to take “strong and resolute measures” as it condemned the U.S. for “crossing the line and acting provocatively” against China. “This [the meeting] is essentially the United States acting with Taiwan to connive at ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists’ political activities in the United States,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “It seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” President Tsai is now back in Taipei. Upon her arrival on Friday, she said her trip proved that “when facing pressure and coercion, Taiwan will only become more unified.” “We will never give in to attempts to hold us down, nor will we shy away from obstacles or cease engaging with the world,” Tsai said during remarks at Taoyuan International Airport.

China vowed Thursday to take “strong and resolute measures” after a meeting between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California, as a Chinese aircraft carrier sailed near Taiwan, putting the island’s military on guard. At the same time, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz sailed in the waters east of Taiwan, 740 kilometers (400 nautical miles ) from the island, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry. The Nimitz may be assisting Taiwan “in monitoring and preventing Chinese military actions in a worst case scenario,” said a Taiwanese military analyst. Tsai’s transit in the U.S. and her meeting with McCarthy, has provoked protests from multiple major institutions in China, including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National People’s Congress and the Communist Party’s Central Office, Shen Ming-shih from Taiwan’s main military think tank INDSR told Radio Free Asia. ‘Violation of China’s sovereignty’ In a statement released Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson condemned the “high-profile” meeting between the Taiwanese leader and the U.S. House Speaker, as well as Tsai’s stopovers in the United States. “This is essentially the United States acting with Taiwan to connive at ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists’ political activities in the United States,” the release said, “It seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” It accused the U.S. of “crossing the line and acting provocatively” against China. “This has put cross-Strait relations in serious difficulty.”  “The Taiwan question is at the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations,” the ministry reiterated. “China will take strong and resolute measures to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it warned. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz taking part in a trilateral maritime exercise with Japanese and South Korean navies, April 3-4, 2023. Credit: U.S. Navy In the week before the Tsai-McCarthy meeting, there was no noticeable increase of Chinese military movements near Taiwan, leading to the prediction by Taiwan National Security chief Tsai Ming-yen that “the government expected a less severe reaction” from Beijing than when McCarthy’s predecessor Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last August. However on Wednesday, as Tsai met McCarthy outside Los Angeles, China’s Shandong aircraft carrier group “passed through the Bashi Channel and entered Taiwan’s southeastern waters,” Taiwan’s defense ministry reported. Intimidation Japan’s Ministry of Defense confirmed in a statement issued Thursday that three Chinese naval vessels including the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Shandong, a Zhangkai II-class frigate and a Fuyu-class fast combat support ship, were spotted sailing in the western Pacific Ocean. It said this is the first time that the Shandong has sailed in the Pacific Ocean. Chinese media also said it is the Shandong’s first exercise in the West Pacific as its regular operation area is the South China Sea. A picture of the Chinese aircraft carrier released with the statement shows a large number of warplanes on the deck, including J-15 multirole fighters, Z-18 transport helicopters and at least one Z-9 reconnaissance helicopter.  Taiwan’s Minister of Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng told lawmakers that as of Thursday morning the Chinese carrier was 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) east of Pingtung County in southern Taiwan.  The carrier-based aircraft are supposed to conduct some flight training, Chiu said, but “no planes have taken off nor landed yet.” He said he could not rule out that the carrier is preparing for a military exercise. “One of the main purposes of the Shandong’s current mission is to issue a warning to Taiwan and the U.S.,” said Shen Ming-shih, who is acting deputy chief executive officer at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “When President Tsai’s plane flies from Los Angeles to Taiwan, the Chinese aircraft carrier may deliberately approach the route,” Shen said, adding that in his opinion “it is only for intimidation and not an actual attack.”  The analyst told RFA the Taiwanese and the U.S. military have already made preparations for possible events. Aircraft taking off from USS Nimitz during a trilateral maritime exercise with Japanese and South Korean navies, April 3-4, 2023. Credit: U.S. Navy Minister Chiu said that the Taiwanese military is monitoring the situation closely and has tasked aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems with responding accordingly. A couple of Taiwanese Navy’s frigates are currently located just 10 kilometers away from the Shandong. The minister also said that the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is currently 400 nautical miles (740 kilometers) east of Taiwan. While he can’t confirm that the Nimitz is here for the Shandong, given the situation “there’s a connection.” The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has just taken part in a trilateral maritime exercise with the Japanese and South Korean navies in the East China Sea from April 3-4.  The U.S. Navy said in a statement that currently “ships from the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group are conducting operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet’ region,” which covers most of the Indo-Pacific. Edited by Mike Firn.

Kashgar’s centuries-old Khan Bazaar, seen at left in a Dec. 21, 2022, image, is being demolished by Chinese authorities. The results of the destruction can be seen in the photo at right, taken on March 22, 2023. Authorities in China’s Xinjiang region say they want to upgrade the area and replace dilapidated structures. Credit: Maxar Technologies (L); Planet (R) Qasimjan Abdurehim remembers Kashgar’s centuries-old Khan Bazaar as a thriving marketplace where Uyghur merchants traded fabrics and modern-day tourists strolled along the pedestrian street that ran down the middle of it. Last month, Chinese workers began demolishing the bazaar for “optimization” purposes — renovations to upgrade the area and replace what they said were dilapidated structures with modern ones.  Uyghurs such as Abdurehim believe the move is another step by the Chinese government to force the mostly Muslim ethnic group to assimilate into the mainstream culture and wipe out their culture and heritage. A short video posted on the TikTok app showed that most of the shops’ stairs, windows and doors had been destroyed. Market supervision officials confirmed that demolition and reconstruction efforts were under way. “They tore down the old structures and built new ones, which they claimed to be earthquake-resistant,” said Abdurehim, who is in his 40s and now works as a real estate agent in Virginia. This isn’t the first case. When Chinese authorities razed Kashgar’s iconic Grand Bazaar, the largest international trade market in all of Xinjiang, in 2022, they did not retain any of the culturally distinctive traits of the market. Three arrested Fearful they would lose their businesses forever, some Uyghur shop owners in the Khan Bazaar quarreled with government workers when the demolition began, a neighborhood committee member said.  Police arrested three people including Bahtiyar, a 16-year-old whose father was imprisoned after 2017, when Chinese authorities began detaining Uyghurs in “re-education” camps and prisons and subjecting them to severe rights abuses that the United States and some western parliaments have said amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. The teenager was helping his mother run the shop on weekends, the member said.  Ongoing demolition and construction of Uyghur structures in northwest China’s Xinjiang region have deprived some families of their residential homes, businesses and arable lands. Some communities have lost their mosques and ancient bazaars to authorities’ modernization efforts.  Claims by Chinese authorities that they are now demolishing the Khan Bazaar to renovate the old buildings “do not fit with reality,” Abdurehim said when he heard about the recent demolition. He said authorities had renovated the bazaar several times since the 1980s, including another “optimization” campaign that occurred sometime between 2000 and 2010 to improve building quality and safety. But each renovation project deprived some Uyghurs of their homes and shops because they could not afford the renovation fees, he added.  Chinese businesspeople with ample financial means and political backing intervened and bought the property at below-market prices, thereby gaining stakes in the Khan Bazaar, he said. “That was, I think, a deliberate ploy devised by the government,” he told Radio Free Asia. Residents’ comments drew attention The bazaar sits across from the 15th-century Id Kah Mosque, which has been mostly closed for worship since 2016 amid a severe crackdown by Chinese authorities on the religion and culture of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. “Standing in front of the famous Kashgar Id Kah gate and looking through it, one could see a bustling street bazaar on the left side,” recalled Abdurehim, who last saw the place in 2017, when the former teacher and school principal went to the U.S. on a business trip and did not return. Remaining Uyghur families, especially those whose heads had been detained in camps or prisons in recent years, worried about losing their homes and shops in the bazaar because they would not be able to pay the renovation fees, said a person familiar with the situation. The source declined to be identified for safety reasons. Because of the repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, the families carefully shared their concerns to local cadres, who issued and distributed demolition notices to area residents. But instead, their comments drew the attention of local political and legal organizations, the source said. As a result, police officers, political and legal cadres and neighborhood committee members went to the scene to surveil shop owners and homeowners during the March destruction, he said. One policeman told RFA by phone that officers, along with the political and legal committee, market supervision, and neighborhood committee members, were present. They all reminded the residents and shop owners to pay attention to social stability, he said. An employee at the Kashgar-Central Asia International Travel Agency said authorities were tearing down the bazaar because the buildings were old, and that the renovation work would be completed by May 1. “The shops and buildings there were shabby, and the government wants to improve its image by renovating this place,” he said. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.