China considers Taiwan, with a population of around 23 million, to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War ( 1949).
Opposed to any initiative giving the Taiwanese authorities international legitimacy, Beijing is against any official contact between Taiwan and other countries.
So even if American officials visit this island frequently, China has deemed that the visit on August 4 of Nancy Pelosi, one of the highest figures in the American state, was a major provocation.
Every evening,
20 Minutes
returns to the tensions around Taiwan as the Chinese army conducts the largest military exercises in its history in this area, sending fighter planes, warships, drones and firing ballistic missiles.
Did you miss the latest events regarding the renewed tension around Taiwan?
Do not panic,
20 Minutes
takes stock every day, since the visit of Nancy Pelosi, number three American and president of the House of Representatives, which has largely cooled relations between China and the United States.
Who did what ?
Who said what?
Where are we ?
The answer below:
The fact of the day
Taiwan's military conducted a new live ammunition exercise on Thursday, after Beijing, which continues its threats, ended its largest ever military maneuvers around the island.
Taiwanese forces fired howitzers and flares as part of the defense exercise, said Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for the 8th Army Corps.
These maneuvers in Pingtung County (south), started at 2:30 a.m. and lasted an hour.
A live broadcast showed artillery pieces lined up on the coast and soldiers, broken into units, firing seaward.
According to the army, hundreds of men participated in these two sessions.
The authorities have minimized the scope of these exercises, ensuring that they were already scheduled and were not a response to those of China.
The new exercises conducted by Taiwan on Thursday have "two objectives", "to ensure the good condition of the artillery and its good maintenance" and "to confirm the results" of previous military exercises organized in 2021, explained Lou Woei-jye .
sentence of the day
The Chinese military threat has not diminished.
»
These are the words written on Facebook by Tsai Ing-wen.
During a visit to an air force command post, the President of Taiwan thanked the soldiers and added: "We will not escalate the conflict or cause disputes, we will firmly defend our sovereignty and national security. , and in the first line democracy and freedom.
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The number of the day
21.
This is the number of Chinese planes detected this Thursday by Taiwan.
Six ships also moved through the Taiwan Strait.
Taipei did not say whether they were carrying out operations.
Among the Chinese planes, 11 crossed the unofficial demarcation line between China and Taiwan, not recognized by Beijing.
The trend of the day
Beijing announced the end of its maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait, saying its forces had "carried out various tasks" while promising to continue patrolling its waters.
In the same statement, China assured that it “will continue to conduct military training and prepare for war”.
For its part, the Chinese Communist Party's Taiwan Affairs Office reacted to the Taiwanese drills by downplaying "rebellious actions by Taipei" which "cannot stop the historic trend of reunification" with mainland China.
Further on, in Washington, Nancy Pelosi said she was "very proud" of her visit to Taiwan, assuring that Beijing had used it as a "pretext" to launch its military exercises.
And to launch to the press: “We will not let Beijing isolate Taiwan.
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Our file on Taiwan
So many statements which, according to experts, do not seem to bode for a warming of relations between China, Taiwan and the United States which have deteriorated considerably since Tsai Ing-wen became president of Taiwan in 2016.
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