The five US lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei on an unannounced visit late Sunday, the second high-level group to visit after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, which started several days of Chinese war games.
The Chinese military unit in charge of the area next to Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, said it held joint multi-agency combat readiness patrols and sea and air combat exercises around Taiwan on Monday.
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The drills were “a stern deterrent to the United States and Taiwan who continue to play political tricks and undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he added.
China’s defense ministry said in a separate statement that the lawmakers’ trip violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “fully exposes the true face of the United States as a destroyer and destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army continues to train and prepare for war, resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism and foreign interference.”
The theater management said the drills took place near Taiwan’s Penghu Islands, which are in the Taiwan Strait and host a major air base, and showed close-up video of the islands taken by a Chinese air force aircraft.
Tsai, meeting lawmakers at her office, said China’s drills have greatly affected regional peace and stability.
“We are working closely with international allies to closely monitor the military situation. At the same time, we are doing everything we can to let the world know that Taiwan is determined to preserve stability and the status quo in the Taiwan Straits,” he said. he said, in a video provided by the presidential office.
Marky told Chai that “we have a moral obligation” to do everything we can to prevent an unnecessary conflict.
“Taiwan has shown incredible restraint and discretion in difficult times,” he added.
Amphibious armored vehicles under the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) take part in an attack wave formation training exercise in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, China, August 14, 2022. cnsphoto via REUTERS
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Taiwan’s defense ministry said 15 Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday, an unofficial barrier between the two, adding that it condemned China’s new drills and would deal with them “calmly”.
low key
Pelosi’s visit angered China, which responded by test-firing ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time and abandoning some lines of dialogue with Washington, including military talks on theater and climate change. However, this trip was much more low-key than Pelosi’s, with Tsai’s meeting with lawmakers not live-streamed on her social media pages, which is the general practice when high-level foreign guests arrive. The team left Taiwan late Monday afternoon, and only since then has the presidential office released video of the meeting with Tsai. It was not immediately clear where they were going. The de facto US embassy in Taipei said they had also met with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and members of Taiwan’s parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee. “Authoritarian China cannot dictate how democratic Taiwan makes friends,” Wu tweeted about their meeting. The United States has no formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the democratically-ruled island with the means to defend itself. China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan’s government says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and therefore has no right to claim it, and that only its 23 million people can decide their future. Taiwan’s Prime Minister Su Cheng-Chang said they would not be deterred by China’s response to such visits by foreign friends. “We can’t just do nothing because there’s a bad neighbor next door and not dare to let visitors or friends in,” he told reporters. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ben Blanchard in Taipei. Edited by Himani Sarkar, Robert Birsel and Raissa Kasolowsky Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
