Taipei, Aug 20 (EFE).- China could use its aircraft carriers to surround Taiwan and prevent any type of foreign aid, through an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy, the Mainland Security Council (MAC) of Taiwan said.
The agency in charge of relations with China said in its latest quarterly report that Chinese aircraft carriers, Liaoning and Shandong, were constantly generating combat capabilities and conducting long-term drills beyond the first island chain, with the aim of building a defense capability between the first and second island chains.
The first island chain is a strategic concept that commonly refers to the line between the Kuril Islands and Singapore, passing through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, while the second chain extends from the Japanese archipelago of Ogasawara to Palau.
China plans to complete the construction of its third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, in 2025, which will contribute to improving the A2/AD capabilities of its armed forces, the MAC said.
According to the agency, this indicated that the operational focus of Chinese aircraft carriers was leaning more towards denying access to US forces, thereby becoming a precondition for the forced reunification of Taiwan.
Military sources cited by the report said that the Asian giant could coordinate its naval, air and missile forces to take strategic positions in the northern Philippine Sea, between 300 and 800 kilometers (186 – 497 miles) east of Taiwan, creating two operational fronts to attack the island.
While one would be the external front, seeking to deny the US fleet access to the theater of operations in the Taiwan Strait, the other would be the home front, with the aim of establishing an all-out siege on Taiwan
Taiwan – where the Chinese nationalist army withdrew after defeat at the hands of communist troops in the civil war – has been governed autonomously since 1949, although China claims sovereignty over the island, for whose “reunification” it has not ruled out the use of force. EFE
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