Taiwan noted Wednesday the raid of 27 Chinese military aircraft in its air defense zone, the day after the visit of the president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to this island considered by Beijing as part of its territory.
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“27 aircraft of the PLA (Chinese People’s Liberation Army) (…) entered the surrounding area on August 3, 2022” into Taiwan’s airspace, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said on Twitter.
But Taipei showed no signs of flinching from these threats. “In the face of increasing and deliberate military threats, Taiwan will not back down (…). We will maintain the line of defense of democracy,” said Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Taiwan, meanwhile, remained defiant on Wednesday in the face of threats of Chinese military exercises near its shores following a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
China on Wednesday reiterated its decision to firmly reply to this “violation of its sovereignty.”
“This is a complete farce. The United States violates China’s sovereignty under the guise of so-called ‘democracy’… Those who offend China will be punished,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on the sidelines. from a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom Penh.
“Our delegation (…) came to Taiwan to make it clear, unequivocally, that we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan and that we are proud of our long-standing friendship,” said Pelosi, 82, during an act with the Taiwanese president. .
Before leaving Taiwan, Pelosi met with Chinese dissidents, including Wu’er Kaixi, one of the student leaders of the bloodily suppressed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. “We strongly agree that
Taiwan is on the front line (of democracy),” Wu’er said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Nicholas Burns on Tuesday to express his country’s “firm protests” and make it clear that “Taiwan is China’s Taiwan,” according to the official Xinhua agency.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense promised “selective military actions”, with a series of military exercises around the island starting on Thursday, including “the firing of long-range live ammunition” in the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from mainland China.
These maneuvers are “a necessary and legitimate measure to respond to the serious provocations of some US politicians and Taiwanese independence fighters,” according to Chinese diplomacy.
At certain points, the Chinese area of operations will come within 20 kilometers of the Taiwanese coast, according to coordinates shared by the Chinese military.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said that the exercises violate the territorial waters of the island and denounced “an irrational action that defies the international order.”
Japan expressed to China its concern about the maneuvers, which in its opinion overlap its economic exclusion zone.
AFP
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