BEIJING: China on Saturday warned the US not to “create a major crisis” on Taiwan as it intensified its military drills and warship incursions into the Taiwan Strait for a third day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. , which seems to be Beijing. has challenged its claims to sovereignty over the self-governing island.
Taiwan says it detected several Chinese aircraft and naval ships participating in military exercises around the Strait of Taiwan on Saturday in what could be a possible counterfeit attack against the island.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said some Chinese planes and ships crossed the sensitive midline in the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.
While the scale of the military exercise has given rise to speculation that China is preparing to invade Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi played down the reports.
“It is a complete rumor and slander that the US claims that China has changed the status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Pelosi’s high-profile visit to Taipei on Wednesday and her meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen and other leaders have angered China, which views the self-governing democratic island as its own territory that is shared with the mainland. Must be reconnected, even by force.
Defending an unprecedented military exercise by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Taiwan Straits, Foreign Minister Wang has warned the US not to “create a major crisis” on Taiwan, which involves firing missiles at the island.
Wang, who attended the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh, was quoted in official media here as saying that the US general strategy is that it will first create problems, and then use them to achieve its goals. will do for
“But this approach will not work on China,” he said.
A day after Beijing imposed sanctions on Pelosi and his immediate family, he said, “We must seriously warn the United States not to act in haste or create a major crisis.”
China has ceased cooperation with the US in several key areas, including climate change, military affairs and efforts to combat international crime.
“The People’s Republic of China is the only legal government representing the whole of China. This is the de facto status quo of the Taiwan question,” Wang said, refuting criticism from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who accused Beijing of changing the situation. Status quo on Taiwan, using Pelosi’s visit as an excuse.
Blinken, who is also in Phnom Penh, told the media on Friday that China’s military exercises around Taiwan in response to Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island are an inconsistent and unfair escalation.
“There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and aggressive military response,” Blinken said on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting.
For the third day on Saturday, China continued joint combat training exercises in northern, southwestern and eastern waters and airspace off the island of Taiwan, to continuously test the joint operational capability of theater command troops.
China’s four-day exercise was announced on Thursday.
It is not clear whether the PLA, which has gone on to mobilize the military, including deploying an aircraft group and a nuclear submarine, will announce another set of exercises.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying defended the PLA’s military drills and Japan’s four missile strikes on Taiwan, saying “Speaker Pelosi’s visit has given rise to current tensions and all Chinese retaliatory measures are appropriate, necessary and proportionate.” We hope that the Japanese side has the right understanding on this.”
Pelosi, 82, is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years.
The PLA announced another set of war games from Monday in the northern Yellow Sea, off the South Korean coast, in a clear warning to US troops stationed there.
China’s Maritime Security Administration has issued a maritime warning that the exercise will last 14 days.
The PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said on Saturday it was continuing joint combat exercises and training in the northern, southwestern and eastern waters and airspace of China’s Taiwan island, official media reported.
On Friday, the Air Force under the PLA Eastern Theater Command launched multi-type warplanes including fighter jets, bombers, early-warning aircraft, electronic reconnaissance aircraft to conduct exercises on combat missions such as airspace control operations, air support and cover, aerial sent for. Strike, reconnaissance and early warning around the island of Taiwan.
Taiwan’s defense ministry, which is overwhelmed by the scale of military construction by China, said on Saturday that “several PLA craft were found around the Taiwan Strait, some crossing the midline,” dividing the mainland and the island.
It said that on August 5, 2022, 49 PLA aircraft flew over the eastern side of the midline of the Taiwan Strait.
“The recent PRC exercises around us aimed at changing the status quo of the Taiwan Strait, infringing on our sovereignty, and creating tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. #ROCARmedForces do not want any escalation but we do not face any challenge and respond with reason,” it said.
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