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Image source,EPA
The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense stated that the Chinese Air Force Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft entered the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone on September 22.
Relations between China and the United States have deteriorated. At the same time that the US State Department undersecretary visited Taiwan, the PLA’s military exercises in the Taiwan Strait made “the center of the Strait” a keyword in the news.
Taiwan accuses Chinese military aircraft of crossing the “strait center line” many times, while China replied that there is no such thing as Taiwan’s so-called “strait center line”. The Chinese media also stated that this nonexistent strait median line is not recognized by any international law and has no binding legal force.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in response to a “central strait” question on Sept. 21 that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and there is no so-called “central strait”. On the 22nd, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie condemned China’s actions in the Central Straits line as “destroying the status quo across the Taiwan Straits, much like Hong Kong’s version of the Law. National Security destroys a country, two systems. “
What kind of demarcation is the “central line of the Strait” where the two sides of the strait hold their own words?
Central Taiwan Strait
According to Taiwanese Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie, the middle line of the Taiwan Strait is “a line devised by Taiwan” and a symbol for avoiding cross-strait military conflicts and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. . But this is not a line that Taiwan has recently discovered.
The formation of this middle line dates back to the 1950s. On December 3, 1954, Taiwan and the United States signed the “United States-ROC Mutual Defense Treaty” in Washington.
Image source,xinhua
After Eisenhower assumed the presidency of the United States, he signed the “China-United States Mutual Defense Treaty” with Taiwan in December 1954, promising to defend Taiwan, Penghu, and Jinma.
In 1955, the US 13th Air Force formally participated in the defense of Taiwan and delimited an air defense cordon over the strait. The United States Army also named this cordon “Davis Line” in honor of the first commander of the Air Force in Taiwan, General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (General Benjamin O. Davis Jr.). The mainland Chinese media seemed to downplay the role of the US military in those days. In Chinese media reports, Davis was a “low-level aide and military officer” conducting operations on the map.
According to US Air Force records, Davis served as the deputy commander and commander of the 13th Air Force and helped Taiwan build an air force with considerable defensive capabilities in two years.
When the United States demarcated this air defense cordon, in addition to warning mainland China, it also intended to restrict the active attack by Taiwanese military aircraft.
In 1958, after several air battles between Taiwan and the mainland in the Taiwan Strait, the two sides appeared to have reached a tacit agreement on this central line and conflicts have subsided since then.
In 2004, when the then Taiwanese Minister of National Defense Li Jie was questioned by the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, he first announced that the geographic coordinates of the strait’s center line were 27 degrees north latitude, 123 degrees east longitude, and 23 degrees north latitude and 119 degrees east longitude.
From a historical perspective, this virtual border in the center of the Taiwan Strait with a northeast-southwest direction has played a very important role in avoiding conflicts between the country and the Communist Party.
No more tacit understanding
Although mainland China has never recognized the “central line of the Straits”, it has maintained a tacit agreement with Taiwan on this central line for a long time.
Image source,Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense
The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense announced the recent registration of PLA military aircraft crossing the middle line of the strait.
In late March 2019, two Chinese Air Force F-11 fighter jets flew over the central line of the Taiwan Strait, which is believed to be the first time that China has crossed the central line of the Straits in 20 years, with the aim to warn of increasingly heated relations between the United States and Taiwan.
In 1999, the then President of Taiwan, Lee Teng-hui, proposed that the relationship with China was “from country to country” and was criticized for participating in the “two-state theory”, prompting an angry reaction from China. . Middle line. According to media reports, air forces on both sides of the strait have frequently increased their activities in the middle of the strait, prompting the United States to call both sides of the strait six times in 48 hours, urging moderation.
Now, now, 20 years later, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has crossed the central line of the Taiwan Strait during military exercises and warned not only Taiwan, but also the United States, which has always played a pivotal role in the cross-strait relationships.
Direct flights across the Strait
Although the confrontation between China and the United States has escalated and cross-strait relations are strained, China has for the first time denied the existence of the “Center of the Strait” in a prominent way and has changed the tacit understanding in recent decades. Considered.
Image source,Reuters
In August 2020, the United States Secretary of Health Hazards visited Taiwan to mourn the death of former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui.
In July 2009, Wang Yi, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, was then director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of mainland China. When he met with the Cross-Strait Financial Observer Mission of Taiwanese lawmakers in Beijing, he proposed that to alleviate the problem of insufficient direct flights across the strait, the central line of the Taiwan Strait should be opened.
Wang Yi’s speech that year was seen as proof of mainland China’s attitude toward Taiwan, and was immediately rejected by then-Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou. Ma Ying-jeou said that the middle line of the strait is a place for air force training and has a lot to do with the security of Taiwan.
In January 2015, mainland China announced the establishment of the M503 route on the mainland side of the western side of the strait’s median line. Despite fierce opposition from Taiwan, this route was officially launched in January 2018.
American factors
This time, when former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou was asked about China’s non-recognition of the “Central Strait” issue, he said that he could not agree, but believed that the reason should be related to the recent series of relations between the United States and Taiwan.
Ma Ying-jeou also mentioned that the CCP aircraft would not exceed 15 nautical miles from the mainland coast before 1979, but after Lee Teng-hui proposed the “two-state theory” in 1999, China’s practice was canceled and the army had the opportunity to fly 15 nautical miles out to sea, but we still respected approximately the center of the strait.
During the 30 years from the beginning of the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party until 1979, the US military had absolute control over the sea and air in the Taiwan Strait.
When the “two-state theory” put extreme strain on cross-strait relations in 1999, US President Clinton once personally mediated. US support for “One China” and China’s national and military growth 20 years after reform and opening-up are reasons for China’s expansion of the scope of activities in the Taiwan Strait.
Tang Shubei, who once served as executive vice president of the China Association for Cross-Strait Relations (ARATS), confirmed that in the early 1990s, during the relaxation of cross-strait relations, some people suggested for Jiang Zemin, the then top Chinese leader, and Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to meet on a boat in the “middle of the strait.” .
Although this meeting proposal did not enter the high-level realm of China’s discussion, it demonstrated on the one hand that the “central strait” was once an important boundary in cross-strait relations.
