Taiwan, China hold opposing military exercises amid tensions

HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is staging military exercises to show its ability to resist Chinese pressure to accept Beijing’s political control over the self-governing island, following new rounds of threatening exercises by China.

Wednesday’s drills off the southeastern county of Hualien follow days of Chinese missile launches and incursions into Taiwan’s sea and airspace by ships and planes of the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of China’s ruling Communist Party. .

“We strongly condemn Communist China’s continued military provocations in Taiwan’s sea and air that undermine regional peace,” Taiwan Defense Ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters at the Taiwanese Force Base. Hualien Air.

“Communist China’s military operations simply provide us with an opportunity to receive combat readiness training,” Sun said.

Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said China was using recent visits by members of the US Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as a pretext to step up its attempts to intimidate to Taiwan to accept what it calls its terms for “peaceful reunification”.

“China launched military provocations for these reasons. This is an absurd and barbaric act, which also undermines regional stability and interferes with shipping and trade activities in the Indo-Pacific region,” Ou said.

China sees the island as a breakaway province to be forcibly annexed if necessary, and views visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognition of its sovereignty.

Along with its military threats, China imposed visa bans and other sanctions on Taiwanese political figures on Tuesday. China does not exercise effective legal authority over Taiwan and it is not clear what effect the sanctions would have.

China has refused all contact with the Taiwanese government since shortly after the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. Tsai was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2020.

The DPP also controls the legislature, while the vast majority of Taiwanese favor maintaining the status quo of de facto independence along with strong economic and social connections between the parties.

China accuses Washington of encouraging the island’s independence through arms sales and compromise between US politicians and the island’s government. The United States says it does not support independence and has no formal diplomatic ties with the island, but is legally bound to ensure Taiwan can defend itself against threats from China, including a blockade.

In addition to putting its military on alert, Taiwan has largely downplayed the threat of the Chinese exercises and life has gone on as normal among a population of 23 million who have lived under the shadow of warlike rhetoric and the saber rattling of China for more than seven decades. .

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