Taiwanese train for war after year of crises
Taichung, Taiwan As a squadron of F-16 fighters roars past the rooftops of the city's skyscrapers, the sounds of the city's congested traffic and ongoing construction are drowned out by the roar of the jet engines.
The smog that frequently covers the horizon in the area of Taiwan's second-largest city quickly obscures the planes. A group of Chinese military aircraft has breached the Taiwanese air defense identification zone (A D I-Z) in the Taiwan Strait, and the fighter jets are aiming for the sea in the west.
Whenever US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2, strains between oneself administered island and China arrived at limit and Beijing, which claims Taiwan just like own, in the months since has sent its tactical planes increasingly deep into Taiwan's A D-I Z.
Culinary specialist and previous trooper H S-I N Tune, 27, has halted on the road looking towards the cloudy skyline for a brief look at the F-16s. The roar of the jet engines above Taichung does not bother her.
She stated, "Seeing that our fighters are ready to stop the Chinese advances into our airspace, I feel more reassured."
H S-I N Song is convinced that China, which has not ruled out using force to take control of Taiwan, will follow Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
She thinks that Taiwan's air force isn't the only one that needs to be prepared to fight China.
"All Taiwanese must be prepared"
The threat of war
China's plans for Taiwan have many people worried, including H S-I N Song.
Surveys show that both cross-waterway specialists and Taiwanese individuals share a similar concern.
China was deemed "the most consequential and systemic challenge to national security and to a free and open international system" in the US Department of Defense's annual China Military Power Report, which was published in November.
Fang Y U chain is an assistant professor at Taipei's S U C H O W University who studies the political ties that exist between Taiwan, China, and the United States. He asserts that the increasingly punitive Chinese approach toward Taiwan is to blame for the growing unease surrounding China.
Fang Y U Chen stated, "The massive military exercises that took place around Taiwan following Nancy Pelosi's visit in early August reached a culmination so far this year. These exercises were the culmination of Chinese intimidation of Taiwan."
"At the same time, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the undermining of Hong Kong's free system in 2019 and 2020 have shown the Taiwanese that certain events that were previously thought to be unthinkable can actually happen."
Fang Y U Chen stated, "The massive military exercises that took place around Taiwan following Nancy Pelosi's visit in early August reached a culmination so far this year". These exercises were the culmination of Chinese intimidation of Taiwan
To prepare Taiwan for such a confrontation, private organizations and actors have taken matters into their own hands. Robert T S-A O, a controversial businessman and vocal opponent of the Chinese Communist Party, is one of them
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