By Sarah Wu
TAIPEI (Reuters) – China’s military announced new military drills on Monday in the seas and airspace around Taiwan – a day after the planned end of its biggest exercises in protest at last week’s visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Pelosi.
China’s Eastern Theater Command said it would hold joint exercises focusing on anti-submarine warfare and maritime attack operations — confirming concerns by some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would continue to maintain pressure on Taiwan’s defenses.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week angered China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own and responded by test-firing ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as abandoning some lines of dialogue with Washington.
The duration and exact location of the latest drills are not yet known, but Taiwan has already eased flight restrictions near China’s six former exercise zones around the island.
Shortly before the latest drills were announced, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met visiting St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, telling him she was touched by his determination to visit despite China’s military pressure.
“Prime Minister Gonsalves has expressed in recent days that China’s military exercises will not prevent him from visiting friends in Taiwan. These statements touched us deeply,” Tsai said at the welcoming ceremony for Gonsalves in Taipei.
It is unclear whether Tsai invited Gonsalves before or after Pelosi’s visit. “We do not disclose internal planning or communication between governments,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said when asked by Reuters.
In addition to firing 11 short-range ballistic missiles during the four previous days of exercises, Chinese warships, fighter jets and drones maneuvered widely around the island.
Shortly before those exercises ended on Sunday, about 10 warships each from China and Taiwan maneuvered nearby around the unofficial middle line of the Taiwan Strait, according to a person familiar with the situation who is involved in security planning.
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WAR TALKS POSTPONED
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Chinese warships, aircraft and drones had simulated attacks on the island and its navy. He said he had sent planes and ships to respond “appropriately”.
Meanwhile, China’s Defense Ministry continued its diplomatic pressure on the United States, defending the postponement of military-to-military talks in protest of Pelosi’s visit.
“The current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait was entirely provoked and created by the US side on its own initiative, and the US side must bear full responsibility and serious consequences for it,” Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Chien said in an online post.
“The bottom line cannot be violated, and communication requires sincerity,” Wu said.
China canceled formal talks involving theater-level commands, defense policy coordination and naval consultations on Friday after Pelosi left the region.
Pentagon, State Department and White House officials condemned the move, describing it as an irresponsible overreaction.
Cutting some of China’s few communications links with the US military raises the risk of an accidental escalation over Taiwan at a critical time, according to security analysts and diplomats.[L4N2ZI0BZ]
One US official noted that Chinese officials did not return calls from senior Pentagon officials amid tensions last week, but that they did not see this as a formal severing of ties with senior figures such as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Asked directly about these reports, defense ministry spokesman Wu said: “China’s relevant countermeasures are a necessary warning against the provocations of the United States and Taiwan and a legitimate defense of national sovereignty and security.”
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Sarah Wu in Taipei; Writing by Greg Torode. Editing by Gerry Doyle and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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