Taiwan said on Saturday that Chinese military drills appeared to simulate an attack on the self-governing island, after several Chinese warships and planes crossed the center line of the Taiwan Strait following a visit by the Speaker of the House of Commons. United States, Nancy Pelosi, in Taipei, which infuriated Beijing.
Taiwan’s armed forces issued an alert, sent air and naval patrols around the island and activated land-based missile systems in response to Chinese drills, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said on Twitter.
China launched live-fire military drills after Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan earlier this week, saying it violated the “one China” policy. China views the island as a breakaway province to be annexed by force if necessary, and views visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognition of its sovereignty.
The Taiwanese military also said it detected four unmanned aerial vehicles flying near offshore Kinmen County on Friday night, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.
The four drones, which Taiwan believed to be Chinese, were spotted over the waters around the Kinmen Island Group and neighboring Lieyu Island and Beiding Islet, according to Taiwan’s Kinmen Defense Command. .
The Taiwanese military fired flares in response.
Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, is a group of islands just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) east of the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, in Fujian Province, in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the two parts which separated in the middle of the civil war in 1949.
“Our government and military are closely monitoring China’s military exercises and information warfare operations, ready to respond if necessary,” Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said in a tweet.
“I call on the international community to support democratic Taiwan and stop any escalation of the regional security situation,” she added.
The Chinese military exercises started on Thursday and are expected to last until Sunday. Exercises so far have included missile strikes on targets in the seas north and south of the island in an echo of the last major Chinese military drills in 1995 and 1996 aimed at intimidating Taiwan’s leaders and voters .
Taiwan has put its army on high alert and held civil defense exercises, while the United States has deployed numerous naval assets in the region.
The Biden administration and Pelosi have said the United States remains committed to a “one China” policy, which recognizes Beijing as the Chinese government but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. The administration discouraged but did not stop Pelosi from visiting.
China also halted defense talks with the United States and imposed sanctions on Pelosi in retaliation for the visit.
Pelosi said in Tokyo, the final leg of his Asia tour, on Friday that China would not be able to isolate Taiwan by preventing U.S. officials from traveling there.
Pelosi has long been a human rights advocate in China. She, along with other lawmakers, visited Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1991 to support democracy two years after a bloody military crackdown on protesters in the square.
euronews Gt