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China Begins Live-Fire Military Exercises Around Taiwan Following Pelosi's Visit

2022-08-04T12:24:01.720Z


The maneuvers caused the closure of sea and air space in six areas around the island, one of them about 12 miles from the coast of Kaohsiung, the main city in southern Taiwan.


By Rhoda KwanNBC

News

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China began its promised military exercises in the airspace and waters surrounding Taiwan on Thursday, as the island claimed by Beijing braces for possible fallout from a visit by U.S. President Nancy Pelosi.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army launched several ballistic missiles into waters off northeast and southwest Taiwan starting at 1:56 p.m. (1:56 a.m. ET), Taiwan's military news agency reported, citing the ministry. defense.

The ministry condemned what it called "irrational actions" by China, saying they undermined regional peace.

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About an hour earlier, the People's Liberation Army began unprecedented live-fire military exercises in six areas that effectively surround the main island of Taiwan, which is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the coast of China.

The exercises were announced shortly after Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday night, and are scheduled to last through Sunday.

Chinese state media reported that the exercises had "achieved the expected results."

Tourists watch as a Chinese military helicopter flies past Pingtan Island, one of the closest points to Taiwan from mainland China, in Fujian province, on August 4, 2022, ahead of massive military drills off China. Taiwan after the visit of the president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to the self-governed island. Hector Retamal / AFP via Getty Images

On Wednesday night, Pelosi and her delegation of House Democrats left Taiwan for South Korea, the fourth stop on an Asia tour that also includes Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

Pelosi, a longtime critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.

Beijing, which claims the self-managed democracy of 24 million people as its territory, viewed her visit as a violation of its sovereignty.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the speaker's visit "maniacal, irresponsible and highly irrational," the Reuters news agency reported, citing China's state broadcaster CCTV.

[USA.

expects China to continue its escalation over Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan]

Speaking in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Wang said China was taking necessary and timely defensive countermeasures to protect its sovereignty and security.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry criticized what it called "provocative actions" by China.

"The practice of not allowing ships to enter specific sea and air space will seriously affect international shipping and economic and trade exchanges," spokeswoman Joanne Ou said in a statement Thursday, adding that the Taiwanese government "will firmly uphold its national sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Taiwan's Defense Ministry reiterated its determination to prevent an escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

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Taiwanese forces "are operating as usual and monitoring our surroundings in response to the PRC's irrational activities, which aim to change the status quo and destabilize the security of the region," the ministry said on Twitter on Thursday, using an abbreviation of China's formal name, the People's Republic of China.

"We do not seek an escalation, but we do not retreat when it comes to our security and sovereignty."

China had already stepped up its military activities around Taiwan before Pelosi arrived on the island.

On Wednesday, while she was there, she sent 27 warplanes into Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone, which is larger than the island's official airspace.

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Two of the formations crossed the middle line of the Taiwan Strait, according to the cartography provided by the ministry, which represents a deviation from the usual flight route.

China conducts these kinds of military sorties almost daily, but the number is usually in single digits.

On Wednesday night, after Pelosi left, the Taiwanese military fired warning flares at an unidentified aircraft over Kinmen, a Taiwanese island about six miles (nine kilometers) from the Chinese coast.

The Defense Ministry said on Thursday that it appeared to be a drone.

The ministry stressed that the move was in line with standard operating procedures, and asked citizens to remain calm.

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Shortly before the live-fire drills began, authorities in Taiwan's capital Taipei urged residents to download an app listing the city's more than 5,000 bomb shelters, local media reported.

Air raid drills are a regular part of life in Taiwan, which held its annual military exercises last month.

While Chinese President Xi Jinping considers Taiwan's "reunification" with the mainland a historic doom, recent public opinion polls show that the majority of Taiwanese do not want to be part of China, but instead want to maintain the status of China. what.

China repeatedly warned the United States against the visit in the days leading up to Pelosi's visit, promising there would be "serious consequences."

The White House says the spokeswoman's visit was consistent with US policy on Taiwan and should not be used to precipitate a crisis.

The international community has raised concerns about the Taiwan Strait tensions, with ASEAN saying the situation "could lead to miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflict and unforeseen consequences between major powers."

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Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven countries, including the United States, said China's response risked destabilizing the region.

"There is no justification for using a visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity across the Taiwan Strait," they said in a statement on Wednesday.

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry objected to the statement and canceled a meeting between Wang and the foreign minister of G7 member Japan, which was to be held in Cambodia on the sidelines of the ASEAN event.

China is justified in the steps it has taken in response to Pelosi's visit, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing on Thursday.

"America's malicious provocation came first, and China's self-defense came second," he said.


Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-08-04

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