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A haunting new video has sent a clear warning to Taiwan following China’s two-day military operation that sent a chill across the globe.
China has made its intentions for Taiwan crystal clear, responding to pleas for de-escalation by releasing a dramatic video simulating an all-out attack on the tiny island nation.
The video, which simulated a full-scale attack with bombs raining down on Taiwan, coincided with the Chinese military’s two-day “Joint Sword-2024A” military exercises around Taiwan, which have continued to raise tensions in the region.
Fighter jets completely encircled the nation during the exercise, flooding the waters and airspace in a bold display of military might that left military officials around the world on high alert.
The drills come after Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te was sworn and immediately shot barbs at China’s ruling party in his inauguration speech.
Beijing denounced his remarks as a “confession of independence” and deployed their forces as a “strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces”.
“Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing after colliding against the great... trend of China achieving complete unification,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, prompting a swift response from the United Nations.
Chinese nationalist forces fled to the then region of Taiwan in 1949 when the Communist Party took over Beijing. The People’s Republic insists that Taiwan is an indivisible part of China of which it is the rightful government. But Taiwan has never been run by Communist China. For many years the government in Taipei claimed that it, not the CCP, was the true leaders of China. Taiwan has never formally declared independence but in essentially every way is its own sovereign nation.
The US has “strongly” urged China to exercise restraint as the world watched Beijing’s drills.
But the following day, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) responded to calls of de-escalation from the West with a 70-second animated video depicting a chillingly realistic simulation of warships, warplanes, and missiles executing a co-ordinated attack on Taiwan.
The video begins with supposed news footage showing the deployment of fighter jets, bombers, and warships, followed by animated scenes of missiles being launched from land, sea, and air.
Projectiles are then depicted raining down on and obliterating major Taiwanese cities like Taipei, Hualien, and Kaohsiung, underscoring the potential devastation.
As the warships and warplanes close in on Taiwan from all sides, the island is shown flashing a countrywide red alert, accompanied by the wail of an alarm siren.
The video, which included the slogans “Destroy the support pillars! Strike the base camp! Cut the blood vessels,” attracted a number of comments from pro-military accounts calling for the eradication of Taiwan’s “base camp”.
While several analysts believe China would ultimately be unwilling to step off the cliff and start an all-out war, the US has been warned it must consider its resources, in case it becomes entwined in a territorial battle.
According to simulations conducted by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American thinktank, the combined forces of the US, Japan and Taiwan would be able to repel a full-scale attempt from China to seize the island.
However, they would likely suffer “devastating” losses in the process.
“Allied air and naval counter-attacks [would] hammer the exposed Chinese amphibious and surface fleet, eventually sinking about 150 ships,” Marc Cancian, a former White House defence budget analyst and retired Marine, told UK newspaper The Times.
“In nearly all the scenarios, the US/Japan/Taiwan are able to prevent Chinese forces from occupying the entire island. However, the cost is extremely high,” he said, adding that CSIS had taken the scale of China’s recent display of firepower into account.
Mr Cancian said no matter the outcome, a war with China would wreak havoc on America’s military, not to mention the economic toll it would carry.
“It would take years for the US to rebuild its forces because of low production rates. Other nations such as Russia and Iran might take advantage of US weakness,” he said.
“The US will need to strengthen its position enough to deter China or to win the war without experiencing high attrition.”
While several analysts believe China would ultimately be unwilling to step off the cliff and start an all-out war, the US has been warned it must consider its resources, in case it becomes entwined in a territorial battle.
Taiwan’s President will ‘stand on the front line’
Taiwan’s recently elected President Lai boldly claimed he would “stand on the front line” to defend his nation.
“Faced with external challenges and threats, we will continue to defend the values of freedom and democracy, and safeguard peace and stability in the region,” he said.
China has warned Mr Lai’s leadership will bring upon “war and decline” to the island, which is home to 23.5 million people.
As Taiwanese people went to the polls earlier this year, Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian warned Australia to steer clear of supporting the new leader.
Mr Xiao warned that Australia would be “pushed over the edge of an abyss” if it tied itself to Mr Lai and Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
He said Mr Lai’s party was guilty of “changing the status quo across the Straits” by colluding with “external forces in successive provocative actions”.
Chinese ambassador Qian Xiao warned that Australia would be “pushed over the edge of an abyss” if it tied itself to Mr Lai and Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
“If Australia is tied to the chariot of Taiwan separatist forces, the Australian people would be pushed over the edge of an abyss,” the ambassador said at the time.
China’s threat to ‘kill independence’
China’s military has also released a series of ominous posters promoting what it called its “cross-strait lethality”, featuring rockets, jets and naval vessels next to bloodstained text.
“The weapon aimed at ‘Taiwan independence’ to kill ‘independence’ is already in place,” it declared.
Taipei’s defence ministry said 49 jets and planes had been detected since the drills began, with 35 of the aircraft crossing over the median line bisecting the Taiwan Strait.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for all sides to “refrain from acts that could escalate tensions in the region”.
US President Joe Biden has previously said he does not support Taiwan’s independence but also that he would back sending forces to defend the island. The official US position on intervention is one of ambiguity.
“We strongly urge Beijing to act with restraint,” a US spokesman said, adding China’s actions “risk escalation and erode longstanding norms that have maintained regional peace and stability for decades”.
