Brian McDonald
Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan boarded jets and placed missile, naval and ground units on alert on Thursday due to Chinese military exercises conducted around the autonomous island democracy where a new president took office this week. ChinaThe country’s military said its two-day drills around Taiwan were punishment for separatist forces seeking independence.
Beijing claims that Taiwan is part of China’s national territory and the People’s Liberation Army sends navy ships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait and other areas around the island almost daily to wear down Taiwan’s defenses and try to intimidate its people, who firmly support their de facto independence. .
Taiwan stands firm, says China threatens regional peace
China’s “irrational provocation has put regional peace and stability at risk,” the island’s Defense Ministry said. He said Taiwan will not seek conflict but “will not shy away from any.”
“This pretext for holding military exercises not only does not contribute to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, but also shows its underlying hegemonic nature,” the ministry statement said.
In his inauguration speech on Monday, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called on Beijing to stop military intimidation and promised “not to give in to or provoke” the leadership of the mainland’s Communist Party.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty
“Facing external challenges and threats, we will continue to uphold the values of freedom and democracy,” Lai told sailors and top security officials on Thursday while visiting a naval base in Taoyuan, south of the capital Taipei.
While not directly referring to China’s measures, he said international society is concerned about Taiwan’s security, a likely reflection of its key role in the supply chains of the most advanced computer chips, as well as a democratic bulwark against the measures. Chinese forces to assert their control over Asia. -Pacific.
Lai said he seeks dialogue with Beijing while maintaining Taiwan’s current status and avoiding conflicts that could draw in the island’s main ally, the United States, and other regional partners such as Japan and Australia.
The main opposition Nationalist Party, generally seen as pro-China, also condemned Beijing’s actions.
The nationalists, also known as the KMT, called on “the opposite side of the (Taiwan Strait) to exercise restraint, cease unnecessary maneuvers, avoid a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, and maintain and cherish the results of peace and development between the sides.”
Thursday’s tension emerged amid protests outside Taiwan’s legislature against moves by nationalists and allies to use their slim majority to force through legislation that could affect military budgets and judicial and other key appointments.
China calls drills ‘powerful punishment’ for Taiwan
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said the land, naval and air exercises around Taiwan were aimed at testing the PLA units’ naval and air capabilities, as well as their joint strike abilities to strike targets and gain the upper hand. control of the battlefield, said the command. said on his official Weibo account.
“This is also a powerful punishment for separatist forces seeking ‘independence’ and a serious warning to external forces for interference and provocation,” the statement said.
The PLA also released a map of the intended area for the exercise, which surrounds the main island of Taiwan at five different points, as well as locations such as Matsu and Kinmen, outlying islands that are closer to the Chinese mainland than Taiwan.
China’s coast guard also said in a statement that it had organized a fleet to carry out law enforcement exercises near two islands near the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen and Matsu island groups near the Chinese coast.
Although China considered the exercises a punishment for Taiwan’s election result, the Democratic Progressive Party has run the island’s government for more than a decade, although the pro-China Nationalist Party won a one-seat majority in parliament. As CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported before the voteChina characterized the latest elections in Taiwan as a choice between peace and war.
Before Lai won, China’s government said he would “continue to pursue the evil path of bringing about ‘independence,'” moving Taiwan “further and further away from peace and prosperity, and ever closer to war and decline.” .
US says China’s actions are expected but must be condemned
Speaking in Australia, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka, deputy commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, called on Asia-Pacific nations to condemn Chinese military exercises.
“There is no surprise that when there is an action that highlights Taiwan in the international sphere, the Chinese feel compelled to make some kind of statement,” Sklenka told the Australian National Press Club in the capital Canberra, referring to Monday’s presidential inauguration. .
“Just because we expect this behavior doesn’t mean we shouldn’t condemn it, and we need to publicly condemn it. And it needs to come from us, but it also needs to come, I believe, from the nations in the region. It’s one thing when the United States condemns the Chinese, but I think it has a much more powerful effect when it comes to nations in this region,” Sklenka added.
Japan’s top envoy weighed in during a visit to the US, saying Japan and Taiwan share values and principles, including freedom, democracy, basic rights and the rule of law.
“(Taiwan) is our extremely important partner as we have close economic relations and people exchange, and it is our precious friend,” Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters in Washington, where she held talks with Secretary of State , Antony Blinken.
She said the two ministers discussed Taiwan and the importance of the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s most important waterways for shipping, remaining peaceful.
The standoff over Taiwan has already had a impact on the people of Japan. In April, CBS News’ Palmer visited a small island at the southern end of the Japanese island chain, Ishigaki, which for years was a laid-back oasis surrounded by calm turquoise seas.
But amid tension with China and the imminent threat posed by Kim Jong Un’s regime in nuclear-armed North Korea, Japan’s military has set up a missile base right in the middle of the island, where some 600 soldiers and a battery of powerful missiles and launchers are now in position. Many residents feel the base cast a shadow of looming conflict over their island paradise, but the base commander told CBS News it was necessary given the security challenges Japan faces.
