Comment China has announced additional live-fire drills in the Bohai and Yellow Seas as Beijing vents its anger over a visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with military exercises near the island. China’s Defense Ministry has not announced the purpose of the expanded drills, which come as the visit has soured US-China relations, but come as Beijing makes its biggest show of force over Taiwan since the last strait crisis in 1995. 1996 — in what he calls a warning to “provocateurs” who challenge Beijing’s claims to Taiwan, the self-governing republic of 23 million. China’s Maritime Security Administration on Saturday announced five exclusion zones in the Yellow Sea, where drills would be held from August 5 to 15, as well as four additional zones in the Bohai Sea, where a month of unspecified Chinese military operations would take place starting in August. . 8. Although China officially seeks what it calls “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan – which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party – it has also consistently threatened to take the island by force if the government in Taipei declares formal independence. From the one-China policy to the Taiwan Relations Act, here’s what you need to know Diplomatic fallout from the visit escalated sharply on Friday when Beijing imposed sanctions on Pelosi and her family, canceled military talks and suspended climate talks and other bilateral cooperation on issues such as transnational crime. The White House has called out Chinese ambassador Qin Gang for “irresponsible” military actions, including firing missiles into waters around Taiwan. Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken called the exercises an “extreme, disproportionate and escalating military response”. White House summons Chinese ambassador as crisis escalates But China has shown no signs of slowing the pace of military exercises. The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said on Sunday it would continue joint air and navy exercises in areas around Taiwan as planned, focusing on long-range strikes against targets in the sky. After a record number of Chinese warplanes flew close to Taiwan’s airspace on Friday, 14 jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Saturday as 14 Chinese warships were in close proximity. Three years ago, crossing the informal boundary dividing the waterway was unheard of. Taiwan’s defense ministry described the Chinese drills on Saturday morning as a “simulation of an attack on the main island of Taiwan”. Taiwan also reported drones and unidentified objects flying over Kinmen and Matsu, two Taiwanese-administered islands closer to the coast of China’s Fujian province. The Kinmen Defense Command on Saturday fired warning flares at three drones that flew over its restricted waters. Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the PLA-affiliated National Defense University, told state broadcaster China Central Television in an interview published on Sunday that the drills aimed to “completely break the so-called median line” and show China’s capability to prevent foreign intervention in a conflict by blocking and controlling the Bashi Channel, an important waterway between the western Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Military analysts said Chinese live-fire drills that began on Thursday and took place on all sides of Taiwan simulated a possible blockade of the island, but Taiwan’s government said the disruption to shipping and flights had so far been limited. Pelosi wrapped up her congressional delegation’s tour of Asia on Friday, vowing that China will not succeed in isolating Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party has for decades pursued a global pressure campaign to diplomatically isolate Taiwan’s democratically elected government, hounding its diplomatic partners and strongly opposing exchanges between Taipei and foreign officials. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan ushers in a new phase of China’s pressure campaign China accuses the United States of emptying its “one China” policy – which neither challenges nor endorses Beijing’s claims to the island – with steps to strengthen its unofficial relationship with Taiwan, including the first visit by its President Parliament for the last 25 years. The White House maintains that the policy is unchanged. Despite unprecedented military pressure, the Taiwanese public has remained largely calm in the face of intensifying Chinese threats. President Tsai Ing-wen said Thursday: “We are calm and will not act hastily. We are reasonable and will not act to provoke.” Annual drills by Taiwan’s military held in the week before Pelosi’s visit have not changed despite increasingly angry warnings from Beijing. As the drills began, local media reported that tourists visiting Xiaoliuqiu, a small island off the southwestern coast of mainland Taiwan, flocked to the shore to see if they could catch a glimpse of Chinese missiles landing in nearby waters. Taiwan’s stock market had recovered from a brief mid-week slide by Friday. Pei Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.
