The Chinese regime is promoting a series of measures to pressure and intimidate Taiwan's next president

Since the victory of sovereign William Loy (Lai Singh-Te) in the January 13 elections, China continued its pressure campaign on Taiwan without major changes, with a series of measures aimed at installing the next Taiwanese government.

Lai, considered “independent” and a “troubleshooter” by Beijing, will be sworn in as president on May 20 after an inauguration ceremony at Taiwan's presidential palace, where he will be closely followed by Chinese officials.

In the time between the elections and the inauguration, Lai has reiterated his dialogue with China on several occasions. “Without Preconditions”This dialogue is only possible under the principle of “one China”, a position rejected by the Beijing government.

In this context of a lack of official contact between the two sides, China undertook military, political, and economic measures aimed at making the new island leader's governmental functions difficult.

After the elections, Taiwan lost a diplomatic ally, the island nation of Nauru, which announced on January 15 that it was severing diplomatic ties with Taipei and establishing them with Beijing, which Taiwan interpreted as a move by China. “Suffocate” the island.

Taiwan, which still maintains diplomatic recognition by twelve countries, including Paraguay and Guatemala, is not expected to participate in the General Assembly. World Health Organization (WHO) since China denied its existence this year.

On January 30, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced that it would reroute several flight paths near the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial border respected by Beijing and Taipei for decades.

The Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council, the body responsible for relations with China, said at the time that the decision not only threatened air security, but also constituted “an attempt to deliberately use civil aviation for political purposes” in changing the status quo in the strait.”

There are many tense scenes between the waters of the strait Beijing and Taipei In these months: On February 14, an illegal boat from China entered the Kinmen Sea, a Taiwanese-controlled archipelago a few kilometers off the Chinese coast, and two of its four crew members died after being chased by the coast guard. Taiwan

Since then, the Chinese Coast Guard has not stopped organizing patrols in the area, and on May 9 the Taiwan Coast Guard reached its peak, evacuating eleven official Chinese vessels – four from the Coast Guard and seven from other administrations – in Kinmen waters.

The Asian giant's armed forces continue to conduct military exercises around Taiwan, and in the past four months more than 500 Chinese military aircraft have been spotted crossing the median line of the strait or flying over the self-declared Air Identification Zone (ADIZ). ) Taiwan.

The maneuvers have intensified in recent weeks, with Chinese planes passing within 70 kilometers of the northern city of Keelung or coordinating “combat readiness patrols” with naval vessels.

In fact, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MDN) announced this Wednesday that 45 Chinese military aircraft were near the island, the highest number since September last year.

China has taken advantage of these months to deepen its ties with Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), highlighted by a meeting on April 10 between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the former Taiwanese president. Ma Ying-geo (2008-2016) in Beijing.

During the meeting, Xi assured that “there are no forces that can separate Taiwan from China” and that the “differences” in their political systems “cannot change the fact that the two sides are one country”.

A few weeks later, China received the visit of an important parliamentary delegation from the KMT and announced several “prevention” measures for residents of Fujian province (southeast), such as the resumption of trips to Taiwan or the opening of imports of agricultural and fishery products. Goods from the island show their willingness to cooperate with the Taiwanese resistance.

(with information from EFE)