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Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, assured this Tuesday, August 9, that China uses the military exercises, which it launched in protest against the visit of the president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, as ” part of a plan for the invasion.” Taipei began live-fire defense drills in the last few hours.
The Taiwanese government assures that China is preparing to invade, while Beijing continues its military drills around the island.
At a press conference on August 9, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that the Asian giant has prolonged the live-fire tests, as a prelude to taking control of the territory that functions independently.
“China has used the exercises in its military manual to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan (…) It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation, and economic coercion in an attempt to undermine public morals in Taiwan,” Wu said.
Such moves threaten regional security and provide “a clear picture of China’s geostrategic ambitions beyond Taiwan,” he said, referring to the ambition to control large swathes of the Western Pacific.
That aspiration would include controlling the East and South China Seas through the Formosa Strait, which separates China from Taiwan on an unofficial border, and imposing a blockade to prevent the United States and its allies from aiding the island in the event of a attack, he said from Taipei.
Against this background, the foreign minister urged greater international support to prevent Beijing from controlling the strait.
“After the drills are over, China may try to make its action routine in a bid to destroy the long-term status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” he stressed.
A Pentagon official indicated that Washington stands by its assessment that China would not attempt to invade TaiwanAt least for the next two years.
Beijing dismisses Taipei’s accusations
To the accusations, the Chinese Office of Taiwan Affairs responded that the Taiwanese foreign minister is an “uncompromising” supporter of the independence of the island, which Beijing claims as its own, and that his comments “distort the truth and obscure the facts.”
These statements came after on Monday, the Chinese army announced it is extending military exercises around the air and maritime space of the islandwhich were supposed to conclude on Sunday, August 7.
These operations were launched in protest of the official visit to Taipei, on August 2, by the president of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. A trip of less than 24 hours, but which was seen in Beijing as crossing a “red line”, since China considers any presence of a high-ranking foreign official in that territory as a way to support its official separation.
Since 1949, the Taiwanese territory has functioned autonomously with its own Government and Army. However, its status is indefinite. There is no international agreement on it.
Wu pointed out that the activities of the Chinese Armed Forces would have taken a long time to prepare, so he suggested that it would not only be a direct response to Pelosi’s visit.
Taiwan starts military defense drills
Amid the tension, the Taiwan Army reported that on Tuesday it launched live-fire artillery drills, firing howitzer artillery into the sea, in Fangshan Township, Pingtung, in the south of the island.
Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that its military will also hold the exercises on Thursday, August 11, in response to the Chinese operations.
The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with the island, unlike with Beijing, but US President Joe Biden has repeatedly said that his country is obligated to uphold Taiwanese democracy, so he is willing to send forces there, should China decide to attack Taiwan.
However, members of his cabinet have been quick to retract and qualify those comments. This situation leaves open the question of whether or not Washington would intervene militarily.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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