The island Defence Ministry stated that China military drills Taiwan unreasonable aggression has put regional peace and stability in jeopardy. Taiwan will not actively seek out conflicts, but it will not avoid them either.
Taiwan, an island democracy with a new president taking office this week, saw Chinese military drills around it on Thursday, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets and place missile, naval, and ground troops on alert.
The military of China said that the two-day drills around Taiwan were a form of retaliation against separatist groups vying for independence. The People’s Liberation Army routinely sends navy ships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait and other areas surrounding the island in an effort to weaken Taiwan’s defences and intimidate its people, who firmly support their de facto independence. Beijing claims the island is part of its national territory.
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The island’s Defence Ministry stated that China’s unreasonable aggression has put regional peace and stability in jeopardy. Taiwan will not actively seek out conflicts, but it will also not avoid them.
According to the ministry’s statement, “this pretext for conducting military exercises not only does not contribute to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, but it also shows its hegemonic nature at heart.”
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te urged Beijing to cease its military intimidation in his inaugural speech on Monday. He also promised not to back down or anger the leadership of the Communist Party on the mainland.
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According to Lai, he wants to have talks with Beijing while preserving Taiwan’s current standing and averting confrontations that can entice Taiwan’s biggest supporter, the United States, as well as other regional allies like Japan and Australia.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army stated on its official Weibo account that the purpose of the land, navy, and air exercises near Taiwan is to evaluate the PLA units’ naval and aviation capabilities as well as their ability to launch coordinated strikes that will take control of the battlefield.
This is also a powerful punishment for the separatist forces seeking independence’ and a serious warning to external forces for interference and provocation, the statement said.
The PLA also released a map of the intended exercise area, which surrounds Taiwan’s main island at five different points, as well as places like Matsu and Kinmen, outlying islands that are closer to the Chinese mainland than Taiwan.
While China has termed the exercises as punishment for Taiwan’s election result, the Democratic Progressive Party has now run the island’s government for more than a decade, although the pro-China Nationalist Party took a one-seat majority in the parliament.
Speaking in Australia, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka, the deputy commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, called on Asia-Pacific nations to condemn the Chinese military exercises.
There’s no surprise whenever there’s an action that highlights Taiwan in the international sphere the Chinese feel compelled to make some kind of form of statement, Sklenka told the National Press Club of Australia in the capital Canberra, in a reference to Monday’s presidential inauguration.
Just because we expect that behavior doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t condemn it, and we need to condemn it publicly. And it needs to come from us, but it also needs to come, I believe, from nations in the region. It’s one thing when the United States condemns the Chinese, but it has a far more powerful effect, I believe, when it comes from nations within this region, Sklenka added.
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Japan’s top envoy weighed in while visiting the US, saying Japan and Taiwan share values and principles, including freedom, democracy, basic rights and rule of law. (Taiwan) is our extremely important partner that we have close economic relations and exchanges of people, and is our precious friend, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters in Washington, where she held talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.She said the two ministers discussed Taiwan and the importance of the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s most important waterways for shipping, remaining peaceful.
