PLA drills around Taiwan a necessary response, expert says

A Chinese military scholar said on Monday that the People's Liberation Army's drills around the Taiwan Island on Monday are a necessary response to what he described as "serious and provocative collusion" between the United States and the island, particularly the US' latest approval of more than $11.1 billion in arms sales to the region.

Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the PLA's Academy of Military Science, said the latest US arms package marks a significant escalation in scale, nature, and the weapons involved.

"In terms of amount, it is the largest US arms sale to the Taiwan region to date," he said.

Moreover, the nature of the weapons has shifted, "from so-called defensive systems in previous US arms sales to clearly offensive capabilities in this round," Fu said.

This constituted a serious violation of the fundamental principles enshrined in the three China-US joint communiques, especially the August 17 Communique, he stressed.

In addition, the expert noted that the package also includes systems such as Taiwan Tactical Network and Team Awareness Kit.

"This would turn Taiwan's regional forces into an extension of the US combat system, significantly increasing the risk of direct conflicts between China and the US," Fu said.

The US and Taiwan, despite China's repeated warnings, have stepped up their collusion and made provocations first, prompting the PLA to take decisive and necessary actions, which are a compelled move that is reasonable and lawful, the expert said.

"Safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is the shared will of the 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots who love the motherland," Fu said, underscoring that it is an irresistible trend of the times.

No matter what backers they rely on, what weapons they purchase, or what disguise they adopt, "Taiwan independence" forces have only a dead end, he said.