Taiwan’s President, Tsai Ing-wen, has criticized China for conducting military exercises around the self-ruled island, calling them a threat to regional stability. The three-day war games simulated strikes on Taiwan and involved dozens of planes practicing an “aerial blockade”. The drills began after Tsai returned from a visit to Central America, during which she stopped over twice in the United States and held a high-profile meeting with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island.
Tsai, who is portrayed as a “separatist” by China, said visits to friendly countries were a “long term practice” and expected by the people of Taiwan. She added that China uses these visits to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region. “This is not a responsible attitude for a major country in the region,” she wrote on her Facebook page late on Monday night. The latest drills did not appear to be on the same scale as the military activity that followed the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August last year, but they drew a rebuke from Japan. Its most southern islands lie close to Taiwan while it also hosts a major US airbase on Okinawa.
Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada described the drills as “intimidating training” to seize sea and air control around the island. He added that China appeared to have shown an “uncompromising attitude” regarding Taiwan issues through the drills. Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan since Tsai was first elected president in 2016. Her visit to Central America included trips to Guatemala and Belize, Taipei’s remaining formal allies in the region after Honduras announced last month it was switching allegiance to Beijing.
Tsai, who says it is up to Taiwan’s people to decide their future, has previously accused Beijing of “dollar diplomacy”. The number of Taiwan’s formal allies has fallen to 13, compared with 22 when she took office. Despite that, the island’s government maintains strong informal ties with many governments and has welcomed a stream of legislators from countries including the US, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic. In 2021, it opened a de facto embassy in Lithuania, its first in Europe in 18 years, drawing anger from Beijing.
China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Command said in a statement that the exercise “comprehensively tested the integrated joint combat ability of multiple military branches under actual combat conditions”. The drills simulated strikes on Taiwan and a state media report said dozens of planes had practiced an “aerial blockade”. Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island.
The military exercises have been criticized by Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, who called them a threat to regional stability. She said that China uses visits to friendly countries to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region. Japan’s Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada described the drills as “intimidating training” to seize sea and air control around the island. Despite pressure from Beijing, Taiwan’s government maintains strong informal ties with many governments and has welcomed a stream of legislators from countries including the US, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic.