China has announced more military exercises in the seas and airspace around Taiwan, a day after it planned to end drills launched in protest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island. China’s Eastern Theater Command said on Monday it would conduct joint exercises focusing on anti-submarine warfare and naval offensive operations, confirming concerns among some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would continue to put pressure on Taiwan’s defenses.
Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week enraged China, which claims the self-governing democracy as its own, and responded for the first time by test-firing ballistic missiles over Taipei as well as cutting some lines of communication with Washington. The duration and exact location of the latest exercises were not yet known, but Taiwan has already eased flight restrictions near the six zones where China has conducted its previous drills.
Shortly before the latest drills were announced, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met visiting St. Vincent and Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and told him she was moved by his determination to visit despite China’s military pressure. “Prime Minister Gonsalves has expressed in recent days that Chinese military exercises will not prevent him from visiting friends in Taiwan. We are deeply touched by these statements,” Tsai said at a welcoming ceremony for Gonsalves in Taipei.
Launching 11 short-range ballistic missiles
In addition to launching 11 short-range ballistic missiles during the four previous days of exercises, Chinese warships, fighter jets and drones maneuvered extensively around the island.The exercise tested “systems warfare tactics under information-based conditions and honed and improved capabilities to destroy key island targets with precision strikes,” Xinhua quoted Air Force Officer Zhang Zhi as saying. Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said on Sunday it had detected a total of 66 aircraft and 14 warships conducting naval and air exercises. The island responded by putting its military on alert and deploying ships, planes and other assets to monitor Chinese planes, ships and drones that “simulate attacks on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea”.
Shortly before those exercises ended on Sunday, about 10 warships from China and Taiwan maneuvered in close proximity around the unofficial center line of the Taiwan Strait, citing a person familiar with the situation who is involved in security planning. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s military will conduct live-fire artillery drills in the southern Pingtung district on Tuesday and Thursday in response to Chinese drills.
The exercises will include snipers, combat vehicles, armored vehicles as well as attack helicopters, the report said, citing an anonymous source.In Beijing, China’s Defense Ministry continued diplomatic pressure on the United States, preventing the postponement of military-to-military talks in protest of Pelosi’s visit. “The current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait is completely provoked and created by the US side on its own initiative, and the US side must bear full responsibility and serious consequences,” Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in an online post.
“The baseline cannot be broken and communication requires honesty,” he said. Pentagon, State Department and White House officials condemned China’s response, calling it an irresponsible overreaction. Security analysts and diplomats also say cutting off some of China’s few lines of communication at a critical moment only increases the risk of an accidental escalation over Taiwan. In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called for a cooling of tensions.”Australia continues to urge restraint, Australia continues to urge de-escalation, and that’s not something Australia is calling for, and the whole region is concerned about the current situation, the whole region is calling for stability to be restored,” Wong told reporters.
