The largest Chinese exercises ever underway in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit. Artillery shots and missile launches. The alert rises in Tokyo
ROME. Beijing’s reaction to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was not long in coming. China surrounds the island in maxi military exercises. The largest operations ever conducted in the geopolitically most risky area on the planet are underway. These are “full-scale military and training maneuvers” that include live artillery and missile fire.
Military maneuvers
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has effectively surrounded Taiwan with unprecedented joint Air Force and Navy exercises launched after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left the island. This was reported by the Hong Kong newspaper, South China Morning Post. The military maneuvers – which will go on until Sunday – affect six areas, according to what was communicated by the Eastern Command of the Chinese Army that oversees the Taiwan Strait. According to Taiwanese sources cited by the Reuters agency, about 10 ships and some Chinese jets have already made some raids, briefly crossing the midline of the Strait. Taipei, for its part, has deployed missile systems to track Chinese aviation activity, while its Navy ships remained close to the midline to monitor Beijing’s maneuvers.
Reaction
The spokesman for the Chinese mission to the EU, Zhang Ming, disputes the recent statement by the G7 foreign ministers and warns that Beijing will respond to “any action that violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China”. “Taiwan is part of the Chinese territory and meddling in his issue is a violation of Chinese sovereignty,” he later specified. In the statement released last night, G7 ministers urged to “preserve peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei and to maintain “international law”, expressing concern “about the announcements and threatening words from China, especially in relation to military exercises and economic coercion that could trigger an unnecessary escalation ”.
Monitoring
The official media recall that these are “large-scale military maneuvers and training” that include live artillery and missile firing in six off-limits maritime areas for navigation and overflight, in a showdown of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). More areas encroach on Taiwan’s territorial and inland waters, as well as Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese armed forces “operate as usual and monitor our surroundings in response to the irrational activities” of the People’s Republic of China “with the aim of changing the status quo and destabilizing the security of the region”. This was stated in a note by the Taipei Defense Ministry at the start of large-scale Chinese military maneuvers around the island. “We don’t seek escalation, but we don’t stop when it comes to our security and sovereignty. We will uphold the principle of preparing for war without seeking war and with the attitude of “not escalating conflict and not causing controversy”.
Condemnation
A condemnation of China’s “targeted military exercises” around Taiwan came from EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell, who stressed that the visit of the speaker of the American House Nancy Pelosi to the island is not a valid motivation. “There is no justification for using a visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait,” Borrell tweeted. “It is normal and routine for lawmakers in our countries to travel internationally. We encourage all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint and act transparently, ”added Borrell, in Phnom Penh for Asean.
“Provocations”
The exercises, which will conclude on Sunday at noon, are focused on joint training with lockdown sessions, assault of maritime targets, land attacks and airspace control activities, as part of a general test of combat and military capabilities. coordination of troops, according to a dispatch from Xinhua. Pelosi, on his journey of less than 20 hours, assured that his presence on the island made it “unequivocally clear” that the US “would not abandon” a democratic ally like Taiwan. His trip sparked furious reaction from Beijing, which promised “punishment” and military exercises in the seas around Taiwan, throttling some of the busiest routes in the world. The Global Times, controlled by People’s Daily, said, citing various military analysts, that the maneuvers were “unprecedented” and that the missiles would fly over Taiwan for the first time, the nationalist tabloid added. Yesterday, the Taiwan Maritime and Port Office issued warnings to ships to avoid transit in off-limits areas. And the Taipei government reported that Chinese activities would affect 18 international routes than its flight information region (FIR). The Defense Ministry also reported that the military fired a rocket on Wednesday night to warn a drone flying over Kinmen Island, which is just 10 km from the Chinese city of Xiamen. Beijing has called the military operations “necessary and just”, blaming the US and allies for the escalation. “In the current circumstance of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the US is the provocateurs, China is the victim,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying commented on Twitter. Meanwhile, the alert rises in Tokyo. The Chinese military exercises near Japan “could accelerate discussions already underway on its role in the event of a Taiwanese contingency, forcing Japanese politicians to think more concretely about this eventuality,” local media reported.
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