Taipei: Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that China was using military exercises launched in protest against the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a pretext to prepare for an invasion of the self-governing island. Joseph Wu told a news conference in Taipei that Taiwan, which China claims as its own, will not be intimidated, even as drills continue with China breaching the unofficial middle line under the Taiwan Strait.
“China has used the exercise to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan,” Wu said, urging international support to protect “peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits”.
“It is conducting large-scale military exercises, missile launches as well as cyberattacks, a disinformation campaign and economic coercion in an attempt to undermine public morale in Taiwan.”
Wu spoke of military tensions after the scheduled end on Sunday of four days of the biggest Chinese exercise around the island – exercises that included ballistic missile launches and simulated sea and air strikes in the skies and seas around Taiwan.
China’s Eastern Theater Command announced on Monday that it would conduct new joint exercises focusing on anti-submarine and maritime attack missions – confirming fears by some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing may pressure Taiwan’s defenses Will keep
After Pelosi left the region last Friday, China also dropped some lines of communication with the United States, including at theater-level military talks and discussions on climate change. Taiwan began its long-scheduled exercise on Tuesday, firing howitzer artillery into the sea in the southern county of Pingtung.
In his first public remarks on the issue since Pelosi’s visit, US President Joe Biden said on Monday he was concerned about China’s actions in the region but not Taiwan.
“I worry about as far as they are going,” Biden told reporters in Delaware, referring to China. “But I don’t think they’re going to do much more than they are.”
A senior Pentagon official said Washington stood by its earlier assessment that Beijing would not try to invade Taiwan in the next two years. Policy Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl also said that US forces would continue to travel 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 Taiwan to China. was part.