The boundary dividing Taiwan from China that runs through the Taiwan Strait is appearing more and more meaningless as Beijing’s modernised navy asserts its might.
The imaginary line was created by a US general named Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. in 1954, at the height of hostilities during the Cold War between Communist China and Taiwan, which was supported by the US. The People’s Liberation Army mostly respected the line, despite the fact that China never formally recognised it.
In retaliation for Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, visiting Taiwan, Taipei is preparing for vessels from China’s far larger navy, which is known for habitually crossing the line.
A Taiwanese official familiar with security planning in the region told news agency Reuters that ‘They want to increase pressure on us with the end goal of us giving up the median line.’
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that Taiwan must work with ‘like-minded allies’ to ensure that the median line remains in place, emphasising that a change in the status quo cannot be accepted.
Taiwan would have to respond militarily if Chinese forces invaded its 12 nautical mile territorial seas, but it currently has no plans to give the coastguard more ability to do so.
President Tsai Ing-wen emphasised that Taipei is modernising its force as a precaution while reiterating that the country will neither start a fight nor escalate one.
It is debatable if international support for Taiwan will be enough to stop China from monitoring Taiwan’s side of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world given that the imaginary boundary has no legal status.
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