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China has announced additional live-fire drills in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea, while Beijing aired its anger over a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with military exercises near the island.
China’s defense ministry did not announce the purpose of the expanded drills, which come as the visit soured US-China relations, but they come as Beijing makes its biggest show of force over Taiwan since the last cross-strait crisis in 1995. to 1996 — in what he calls a warning to “provocateurs” who challenge Beijing’s claims over Taiwan, the self-governing democracy of 23 million.
China’s Maritime Safety Administration on Saturday announced five no-go zones in the Yellow Sea, where drills will be held from August 5 to 15, as well as an additional four zones in the Bohai Sea, where a month of unspecified Chinese military operations will be held from August 8.
Although China officially seeks what it calls “peaceful unification” with Taiwan – which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party – it has also consistently threatened to take the island by force if the government in Taipei declares formal independence.
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The diplomatic fallout from the visit escalated sharply on Friday, when Beijing imposed sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family, canceled military talks and suspended climate talks and other bilateral cooperation on issues including transnational crime.
The White House summoned Chinese ambassador Chin Gang over “irresponsible” military actions, including firing missiles into waters around Taiwan. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called the exercises an “extreme, disproportionate and escalating military response.”
White House summons Chinese ambassador as crisis escalates
But China has shown no signs of slowing the pace of military exercises. The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said on Sunday it would continue joint air and naval exercises in areas around Taiwan as planned, focusing on long-range strikes against targets in the sky.
After a record number of Chinese warplanes flew close to Taiwan’s airspace on Friday, 14 planes crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, while 14 Chinese warships were active nearby. Three years ago, crossing the unofficial border that divides the waterway was unheard of.
Taiwan’s defense ministry described China’s drills on Saturday morning as a “simulated attack on Taiwan’s main island”.
Taiwan also reported drones and unidentified objects flying over Kinmen and Matsu, two Taiwanese-administered islands closest to the coast of China’s Fujian province. The Kinmen Defense Command on Saturday fired warning missiles at three drones flying over its restricted waters.
Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the PLA-affiliated National Defense University, told state-run China Central Television in an interview published on Sunday that the drills aimed to “completely break the so-called middle line” and demonstrate China’s ability to prevent foreign interference in conflict by blocking and controlling the Bashi Channel, an important waterway between the western Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.
Military analysts said China’s live-fire drills, which began Thursday and took place on all sides of Taiwan, simulated a potential blockade of the island, but Taiwan’s government said disruption to shipping routes and flights had so far been limited.
Pelosi wrapped up the congressional delegation’s tour of Asia on Friday by vowing that China will not succeed in isolating Taiwan.
The Chinese Communist Party has for decades waged a global pressure campaign to diplomatically isolate Taiwan’s democratically elected government by poaching its diplomatic partners and fiercely opposing exchanges between Taipei and foreign officials.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan marks the beginning of a new phase of the campaign to pressure China
China accuses the United States of emptying its “one China” policy — which neither challenges nor endorses Beijing’s claims to the island — with moves to strengthen unofficial ties with Taiwan, including the first visit by the House speaker in 25 years. The White House says the policy is unchanged.
Despite the unprecedented military pressure, the Taiwanese public remains largely calm in the face of increasing Chinese threats. President Tsai Ing-wen said on Thursday: “We are calm and will not act hastily. We are rational and will not provoke.”
Taiwan’s annual military exercises, held the week before Pelosi’s visit, were not changed despite increasingly angry warnings from Beijing. As the drills began, local media reported that tourists visiting Xiaoliuqiu, a small island off the southwest coast of mainland Taiwan, flocked to the shore to see if they could catch a glimpse of Chinese missiles landing in nearby waters.
Taiwan’s stock market rebounded from a brief midweek slump through Friday.
Pei Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.
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