Cartoon by Marian Kamensky

Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island

By Helen Davidson in Taipei and Vincent Ni

The Guardian: China’s military has pressed ahead with its largest ever military drills, targeting Taiwan with what the island’s government called a simulated attack, including further incursions over the median line and drone flights over Taiwan’s outlying islands.

Western pushback on China’s live-fire drills, launched in response to a visit to Taiwan by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, earlier in the week, also continued, with condemnation from senior US officials and foreign ministers from Australia and Japan.

Beijing vociferously objected to Pelosi’s visit, which it said violated its “one-China principle”, a domestic policy outlining the government’s territorial claim over the democratic and self-ruled Taiwan. Beijing sees Taiwan as a part of China and has vowed to “take it back” one day, and by force if necessary.

Over the weekend, Chinese diplomats continued their campaign to lay the blame on the US and accused Washington of causing chaos in the region.

On Saturday, Taiwan’s ministry of defence said it had observed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) planes and ships operating in the Taiwan strait, believing them to be simulating an attack on its main island.

“Multiple batches of Chinese communist planes and ships conducting activities around the Taiwan strait, some of which crossed the median line,” it said, referring to the unofficial border in the waters between China and Taiwan.

On Saturday, Taiwan also scrambled jets to warn away 20 Chinese aircraft, including 14 that crossed the Taiwan strait median line, according to Reuters, citing Taiwan’s defence ministry.

Chinese warships and drones simulated attacks on US and Japanese warships, off Taiwan’s east coast and close to Japanese islands, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Taiwan also said it had fired flares on multiple nights to ward off PLA drones flying over the Kinmen islands, and unidentified aircraft flying over the Matsu islands. The island groups sit a few kilometres from China’s mainland coast.

News about the drills came as Taiwan’s official media outlet, CNA, reported that Ou Yang Li-hsing, the vice-president of the Taiwan defence ministry’s research and development unit, had been found dead in a hotel room after a heart attack. It said there were no signs of intrusion to the 57-year-old’s room and that his family said he had a history of cardiac problems.

The live-fire drills began on Thursday, shortly after Pelosi departed Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and targeted six large areas of sea surrounding the island, including inside its territorial waters. They also included 11 ballistic missiles fired towards or over the main island of Taiwan, landing in its surrounding seas and in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

In recent days, PLA officials have lauded their drills, claiming they are a demonstration of blockade tactics, which could be imposed on Taiwan for real one day.

Taiwan’s foreign minister on Friday defended Pelosi’s visit as “significant” in raising the profile of Taiwan as a democracy. Joseph Wu told the BBC that Beijing was trying to change the status quo, which Taiwan wanted to maintain.

“Taiwan has no jurisdiction over mainland China and the People’s Republic of China has no jurisdiction over Taiwan. That is the reality,” Wu said, suggesting it was Taipei that invited Pelosi for the visit.

Beijing’s week of retaliation has also targeted the US, with sanctions imposed on Pelosi and her family, and key agreements or cooperations suspended or cancelled, including climate crisis talks and efforts to ensure bilateral military communications >>>