China ‘Blockade Simulation’ Exposes $5 Trillion Global Danger
An honor guard march during the inauguration ceremony of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te in Taipei on May 20. Lai urged China to stop its intimidation of the democratic island. China this week did the opposite.
Photographer: An Rong Xu/BloombergTaiwan inaugurated a new president on May 20. His name is Lai Ching-te, and he quickly got a taste of how challenging his next four years will be.
While Lai, 64, who served as vice president in the previous administration, called on Beijing to drop its threat of war to force unification with mainland China, the Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army on Thursday launched military drills that encircled the entire island. In the face of Lai’s statement that neither side of the strait was subordinate to the other, the PLA’s operations conveyed something quite different.