Sydney (Australia), May 23 (EFE).- The punitive military maneuvers carried out by China around the island of Taiwan are “worrying”, although predictable, said this Thursday in Canberra, the commander general of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Stephen D. .Sklenka.
In an appearance before the Australian Press Club, Lieutenant General Sklenka considered that “expecting this (type of) behavior does not mean that we should not condemn it. We have to condemn it, not only ourselves, but also the nations of the region.”
The military high command also linked the Chinese military maneuvers to the recent inauguration of the new president of Taiwan, Willian Lai (Lai Ching-te), branded by Beijing as a “secessionist” and “troublemaker,” in a ceremony held last Monday at hundreds of delegates attended, including Americans and Australians.
“When there is an action that highlights Taiwan in the international arena, the Chinese feel obliged to make some type of formal declaration,” the US military emphasized, adding that the Chinese military maneuver, which began today, responds more to “populism.” domestic”.
The statements by the US high command come a few hours before the start of a series of Chinese military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and around this island.
The spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command, Li Xi, indicated that the maneuvers – baptized as Joint Sword – 2021A (“united sword” in English) will extend until tomorrow, Friday, and that they serve to test the real combat capabilities of the forces that make up the Command.
These maneuvers also serve “as a strong punishment for the separatist acts of the forces defending ‘Taiwan independence’ and as a serious warning against interference and provocation by external forces,” the spokesperson added.
Beijing, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan – a territory it considers a “rebellious province” since the Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in 1949 after losing the war to the communists – also maintains territorial conflicts with neighboring countries over the South China Sea. and from Eastern China.
Sklenka pointed out today that the friction that China has with countries like the Philippines or Vietnam or even with the United States or Australia are part of its “pattern of behavior”, which is “deliberate, designed to intimidate and create tense situations that threaten stability and regional peace”.
In this sense, the military high command warned of the potential “devastating impact of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific, which would put “an incalculable number of lives, trillions of dollars, global economic damage and international order at stake.”
The United States, which competes with China in the Indo-Pacific, signed a security agreement with the United Kingdom and Australia in 2021, which includes the acquisition and development of nuclear submarines in the oceanic country to increase its presence in this region, rich in resources and therefore where a large part of world trade happens.EFE
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