Bei einer großen chinesischen Marineübung kämpfen Taiwan und die USA um eine Reaktion

SS: A week ago, Taiwan was bracing for a Chinese military exercise to “punish” its president, Lai Ching-te, for a trip abroad that included two short visits to the US. It would have been another show of force from Beijing in retaliation for Taiwanese leaders asserting their country’s independence.

But what happened next took Taipei by surprise. Its military and national security officials observed what they called the largest Chinese naval deployment in nearly 30 years. At the same time, Beijing announced partial restrictions on air traffic in seven zones hugging its coastline from Shanghai to Hong Kong for two days.

There was not a word from the People’s Liberation Army, in contrast to the propaganda campaigns which tend to accompany its drills targeting Taipei.

Taiwan and the US — its only foreign defender against China’s threat to annex it by force if Taipei resists unification indefinitely — have drawn drastically different conclusions.