Taiwan vows not to bow to pressure from China

Taiwan reiterated it won’t succumb to pressure from China after days of military drills in the air and seas surrounding the island, with hostilities set to continue even as world leaders urge an end to the strife.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it conducted exercises around Taiwan on Sunday, with drills focused on testing the capabilities of joint firepower on long-range air and ground strikes. China didn’t say if the military manoeuvres - earlier reported to take place until midday Sunday - are over or if they will be extended.

Taiwan said the Chinese drills again simulated attacks on its main island as well as Taiwanese ships. China also deployed drones near Taiwan’s outlying islands, the defence ministry said, adding it responded by sending airplanes and ships and monitored the situation through surveil lance and reconnaissance.

The PLA flew some 66 sorties on Sunday, including 22 that crossed the southwest air defence Identification zone, the ministry said. Some 14 Chinese warships were detected around the Taiwan Strait as of 5 pm local time. Separately, a drone was found approaching the restricted waters of the Kinmen area and was driven away by flares, Taiwan’s army said.

Beijing has carried out its most provocative military drills in decades in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan last week. It has also likely fired missiles over the island of 23 million people, sent warships across the Taiwan Strait’s median line, and flew waves of warplanes across the US-defined boundary.

“China has brutally used military actions to disrupt regional peace and stability, Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters on Sunday. “We will never bow to pressure. We uphold freedom and democracy, and believe Taiwanese disapprove China’s bullying actions with force and sabre-rattling at our door.”

Mr Su said the Chinese government shouldn’t flex its military muscles.

“It is not only Taiwan that suffers,” he said. “Neighbouring countries have protested loudly, and freedom-loving and democratic countries such as the United States have strongly condemned it.”

Beijing denounced the visit by Ms Pelosi as a violation of the US pledge 50 years ago not to formally recognise the government of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. It announced on Friday a set of measures including cutting off defence talks with the US, marking a further deterioration in relations between the world’s biggest economies.

China is engaging in increasingly destabilising action, US secretary of state Antony Blinken told reporters on Saturday, saying he has communicated that to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Blinken said tensions between the US and China need to be de-escalated, and that he had told Wang that lines of communications between the two sides must be kept open.

“The differences between Taiwan and the mainland need to be resolved peacefully,” said Blinken. “Countries throughout the region and around the world are very concerned about that.”

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s election in 2016 upended Beijing’s efforts to deepen economic and social ties with the island. Tsai, who hails from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, rejects the “One China” framework and has sought greater US ties to reduce reliance on the mainland.

China’s military exercises have made ships think twice about heading into one of Taiwan’s most important ports, creating potential delays for shipments of electronic goods. Ship owners, worried about the possibility of missile strikes, are choosing to idle vessels and burn extra fuel until the drills pass.

The Taiwan Strait is a key route for supply chains, with almost half of the global container fleet passing through the waterway this year. While vessels are continuing to travel through the strait during the military exercises, they are navigating around the drill zones.

“It is an issue that can lead to conflict and war to the detriment of all parties involved, especially the people in Taiwan,” Teo Chee Hean, Singapore’s coordinating minister for national security, said in a Facebook post. “These tensions also have a negative impact on us here in South East Asia. We hope that wisdom will prevail.”

While it’s unclear whether drills around the strait ended as planned, China said Saturday it will practice live weapon firing in the southern part of the Yellow Sea. The drills will last for ten days from August 6th-15th, it said.

The Maritime Safety Administration also said on Saturday that military exercises will take place in the parts of the Bohai Sea for a month from August 8th, and warned ships to avoid entering the area. - Bloomberg