China increases the temperature around Taiwan

Just like the proverbial frog in a pot, who boils to death after the water is heated incrementally, so China under Chairman Xi Jinping is gradually but inexorably ramping up the pressure and heat on Taiwan.

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By acting in this way, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is normalizing such coercive behavior against the democratic nation.

PLA activity around Taiwan has been at record-breaking levels since May 2024, as communist-controlled China ramps up the pressure to demonstrate how little it is tolerating “collusion” by PLA aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from January 1 till March 25 were at record levels. In fact, the median number of PLA flights was greater than for the entire three-month period in both 2023 and 2021 combined.

Add to these flights Beijing’s use of China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels in coercive maritime law enforcement operations and scenarios include communications cable cutting by rogue merchant vessels, and it is obvious that China is making a deliberate and concerted effort to alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

As well as military harassment, China is conducting psychological warfare against Taiwan, by laying way public opinion. Indeed, Sir Alex Younger, former chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, said Chinese activity is “a textbook on subversion, cyber and political harassment.”