In the coronavirus fog, tussling over Taiwan goes under the radar

With the world focused on the battle against the coronavirus pandemic and the US and China hurling accusations over the disease’s spread, combat manoeuvres in and around Taiwan have flown under the radar…

With the coronavirus killing thousands and crippling healthcare systems around the world, authorities around the globe are occupied, including in the United States, the main arms supplier to Taiwan.

But the US seemingly sent a couple of messages recently that it was still on alert for an inkling in Beijing to use the pandemic as the opportunity in a crisis to try to take back control of Taiwan, according to observers…

The US sent its first signal last week when it ran an unusual missile test drill in the nearby Philippine Sea. It then sent the USS McCampbell guided-missile destroyer steaming through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, according to a tweet from the US Pacific Fleet.

Earlier, China’s People’s Liberation Army buzzed Taiwan with jet fighters which prompted Taipei to scramble its own in response…

For Beijing, creating a crisis over Taiwan and fanning nationalist sentiment on the mainland would also deflect public anger away from Beijing over its initial handling of the disease outbreak and suppression of information and whistle-blowers, according to Wang Kung-yi, a political-science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei.