Post by account_disabled on Mar 9, 2024 18:45:56 GMT 10
China's live-fire military exercises around Taiwan threaten to disrupt trade and the movement of both ships and aircraft in East Asia, forcing shipping to divert from one of the world's busiest waterways and straining more pressure on already strained global supply chains.
On Thursday, China began drills involving the navy and air force in the space surrounding Taiwan. The drills, unprecedented in number, are a direct show of force in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the autonomous island that China claims.
China's Defense Ministry on Tuesday published a map of six areas around the island where it would conduct air and sea exercises, as well as long-range live-fire exercises Ecuador Mobile Number List that will last until Sunday. Ships and planes have been warned to stay out of the areas during the drills, which involve a de facto blockade of Taiwan and, according to this country, a violation of its territorial waters and airspace.
These moves also threaten to disrupt trade flows on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
The Taiwan Strait, which separates the island of Taiwan and mainland Asia, is a key trade route for ships carrying goods between major Northeast Asian economies such as China, Japan and South Korea, and the rest of the world and seriously hinders the export of semiconductors and other key electronic equipment for many industries in other countries. In addition, a good part of the liquefied gas also circulates through here and so far this year, almost half of the container ships in the world have passed through this strait.
There are currently 256 container ships and other vessels in Taiwan's territorial waters, with another 60 expected to arrive between Thursday and Sunday, when drills will be held.
On the other hand, Taiwan also diverted 18 international flight routes to Japan and the Philippines. Approximately 400 flights will be affected as a result of the route change.
Closing trade routes around Taiwan, even temporarily, raises concerns about whether China could do this again in the future and for longer, affecting trade, travel and security in the China Sea.
China has already hit Taiwan with some trade restrictions since Wednesday, including suspending some imports of fruit and fish from Taiwan and exports of natural sand to the island.