Name: Thinly veiled military threats via social media kick off China-Taiwan tensions on Lunar New Year - ABC News
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Thinly veiled military threats via social media kick off China-Taiwan tensions on Lunar New Year - ABC News

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Thinly veiled military threats via social media kick off China-Taiwan tensions on Lunar New YearShareChina's air force has issued a sobering message to Taiwan to ring in the Chinese New Year, releasing a video on an official social media outlet of military jets flying around the disputed self-ruled island, to which Taiwan's military responded within hours with a video of their own.The film was posted on a Chinese air defence force official Weibo account — China's most popular social media platform — and shows aerial views over Taiwan while playing a song written from the point of view of a fighter pilot.The video begins by portraying the emotional connection of Taiwan to mainland China with touching lyrics and music, yet slowly evolves into scenes of fighter jets flying across and circling the island."My war eagle flies around the treasure island delivering homesickness to call you back softly," repeat the lyrics using a common Chinese name for the island of Taiwan."As I fly around the treasure island, I embrace every dear cloud into my heart," then plays over a close view of a fighter pilot followed by a wide shot of several fighter jets flying in formation.In another section, the official badge of the air force is pictured in the foreground against images of Taiwan's skyscrapers, and the video ends with a Chinese flag flying near the coastline.But the video also sends a message of reunification and brotherhood, as the song calls for "brothers and sisters" from Taiwan to "return [and] reunite" accompanied by footage of H-6 bombers and J-20 stealth fighters.Taiwan — which also calls itself the Republic of China — has been self ruling since 1949, but with Beijing still considering it , its sovereignty has been heavily limited.The video's release comes amid ; however, Taiwan around the world that do not have ties with Beijing.It also comes as Beijing ramps up who want to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.In a speech last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing had no intention of dropping its threat to use military force to bring the island under its control.Within hours of the video posted by China's air force, a Taiwanese military page responded by posting a 90-second video of the island's military including ground-based missile launchers and air and naval forces on their official Facebook page."Maybe we will be absent from the New Year's Eve reunion table [celebrations] but our commitment to guarding our countrymen will never be absent," the post reads."The enemy threat strengthens our resolve to guard free democracy, to defend the sustainable development of the Republic of China, to maintain peace in the Taiwan strait and regional stability."The post had more than 135,000 views at the time of writing.Within China where internet sites and social media are strictly censored, hundreds posted comments of support for the Chinese air force video."I must give it a like. I wish a reunification by war," commented one user on the Weibo post followed by a link.But when the video from the Chinese government was posted on international platforms including YouTube, it attracted mixed reactions."Do you really want to fly in? In that case, it would be turned upside down," commented one user on a post of the video.Another commented: "Why just fly around [the island], rather than flying in? Is it a war eagle or a vulture?"6 Feb 20196 Feb 2019Wed 6 Feb 2019 at 1:54am, 6 Feb 20196 Feb 2019Wed 6 Feb 2019 at 3:55amMore on:

Thinly veiled military threats via social media kick off China-Taiwan tensions on Lunar New YearShareChina's air force has issued a sobering message to Taiwan to ring in the Chinese New Year, releasing a video on an official social media outlet of military jets flying around the disputed self-ruled island, to which Taiwan's military responded within hours with a video of their own.The film was posted on a Chinese air defence force official Weibo account — China's most popular social media platform — and shows aerial views over Taiwan while playing a song written from the point of view of a...

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Thinly veiled military threats via social media kick off China-Taiwan tensions on Lunar New Year - ABC News

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