By Jiang Chenglong
The involvement of aircraft carrier groups in military deterrence operations around Taiwan can completely cut off the escape routes for "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and the channels for external forces attempting to aid them, a scholar from the People's Liberation Army said on Wednesday.
Zhang Chi, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, made the remarks in an interview with China Daily after the PLA Eastern Theater Command announced on Wednesday that the CNS Shandong aircraft carrier group conducted exercises in the sea and airspace to the east of Taiwan, focusing on sea and land strike capabilities.
Zhang noted that in recent years, the PLA aircraft carrier groups have carried out multiple exercises east of Taiwan.
"From the positioning of the aircraft carriers in these exercises, they have occupied strategic chokepoints, forming a solid maritime barrier," he said.
"This creates a posture of external blockade and internal containment: externally blocking foreign interference and internally isolating 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces."
The Taiwan authorities have long viewed the eastern part of the island as a so-called base for preserving military strength and a comfort zone, the expert said, pointing out that therefore, the presence of PLA aircraft carrier groups east of Taiwan helps block three lines militarily.
"The first line is cutting off the lifeline of energy and resource imports for 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces. The second line is blocking the support line of external assistance to these forces," Zhang said. "The third line is preventing the escape line for separatists attempting to evade sanctions and flee away."
He stressed that for a long time, "Taiwan independence" forces have fantasized that the Chinese mainland would not actually take military action and that external forces would assist them.
With the aircraft carrier participating in the series of military deterrence operations, it means that these large-scale, high-intensity, and diverse actions can completely cut off the escape routes for "Taiwan independence" forces and block the channels for external aid to them, said the professor.
"This demonstrates that the path of 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces leads only to a dead end and that China's reunification is both inevitable and eventual," Zhang said.
