TAIPEI, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday China was using military exercises it launched in protest against a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a plan game to prepare for an invasion of the self-governing island.
Joseph Wu, speaking at a news conference in Taipei, offered no timetable for a possible invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
He said Taiwan would not be intimidated even if the drills continue with China often breaking the unofficial median line in the Taiwan Strait.
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“China has used exercises from its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” Wu said.
“It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyber attacks, disinformation and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan.
“Once the drills are over, China may try to routinize its action in an attempt to shatter the long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” Wu said.
The moves threatened regional security and provided “a clear picture of China’s geostrategic ambitions beyond Taiwan,” said Wu, who called for greater international support to prevent China from effectively controlling the strait. .
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office responded to Wu’s comments saying he was a “stalwart” supporter of Taiwan independence, and his comments “distort the truth and obscure the facts.”
A Pentagon official said Monday that Washington was sticking to its assessment that China would not try to invade Taiwan for the next two years. Read more
Wu spoke as military tensions heated up after the scheduled end Sunday of four days of China’s largest-ever drills around the island — drills that included ballistic missile launches and simulated sea and air strikes in the skies and seas surrounding Taiwan.
China’s Eastern Theater Command announced on Monday that it will hold new joint exercises focusing on anti-submarine and maritime assault operations, confirming fears from some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would keep up the pressure on Taiwan’s defenses .
On Tuesday, the command said it was continuing to conduct military drills and exercises in the seas and airspace around Taiwan, focusing on blockades and resupply logistics.
“DEPARTMENT”
A person familiar with security planning in the areas around Taiwan described to Reuters on Tuesday an ongoing “mishap” around the median line involving about 10 Chinese and Taiwanese warships each.
“China continued to try to enter the middle line,” the person said. “Taiwanese forces have tried to keep international waterways open.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that China’s continued military exercises “highlight that its threat of force has not diminished”.
When Pelosi left the region last Friday, China also dropped some lines of communication with the United States, including theater-level military talks and climate change discussions.
Taiwan began its own long-scheduled drills on Tuesday, firing howitzer artillery into the sea in the southern county of Pingtung, drawing a small crowd of onlookers to a nearby beach.
US President Joe Biden, in his first public comments on the issue since Pelosi’s visit, said Monday that he was concerned about China’s actions in the region but was not concerned about Taiwan. Read more
“I’m concerned that they’re moving as much as they are,” Biden told reporters in Delaware, referring to China. “But I don’t think they do anything more than they are.”
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl also said that the US military will continue to conduct trips through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks.
China has never ruled out taking Taiwan by force, and on Monday Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China was conducting normal military exercises “in our waters” in an open, transparent and professional manner , adding that Taiwan was part of China.
Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island’s future.
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Reporting by Sarah Wu and Yimou Lee in Taipei; Additional reporting by Ann Wang in Pingtung, Taiwan; Written by Greg Torode and Ben Blanchard; Edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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