The global pushback against China’s live-fire drills, which began in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier in the week, has also continued, with condemnation from senior US officials and Australian foreign ministers and Japan. Beijing strongly opposed Pelosi’s visit, which it said violated the “one China” principle, a domestic policy that describes the government’s territorial claim over democratic and de facto independent Taiwan. On Saturday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had spotted People’s Liberation Army (PLA) planes and ships operating in the Taiwan Straits, believing they were 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 waters between China and Taiwan. Chinese warships and drones simulated attacks on US and Japanese warships off Taiwan’s east coast and near Japanese islands, Reuters reported, citing sources. Taiwan also said it fired flares several nights to repel PLA drones flying over the Kinmen Islands and unidentified aircraft flying over the Matsu Islands. The island complexes are located a few kilometers off the mainland coast of China. News of the drills came as Taiwan’s official media outlet CNA reported that Ou Yang Li-hsing, vice president of Taiwan’s defense ministry’s research and development unit, was found dead in a hotel room after suffering a heart attack. It said there were no signs of a break-in in the 57-year-old’s room and that his family said he had a history of heart problems. China says Nancy Pelosi ‘shot herself in the foot’ with Taiwan visit – video The live-fire drills began Thursday, shortly after Pelosi left Taipei, and targeted six large sea areas around Taiwan, including its territorial waters. They also included 11 ballistic missiles fired at or over the main island of Taiwan, landing in the surrounding seas and in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. In recent days PLA officials have praised their drills, claiming they are a demonstration of a blockade tactic that could be imposed on Taiwan for real one day. China’s government has not ruled out using force to annex Taiwan. Taiwan’s foreign minister on Friday defended Pelosi’s visit as “important” for raising Taiwan’s profile as a democracy. He 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. This is the reality.” Beijing’s week of retaliation also targeted the US, with sanctions imposed on Pelosi and her family, and key agreements or partnerships suspended or cancelled, including talks on the climate crisis and efforts to secure bilateral military communications. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Saturday that China should not hold talks on major global issues such as the climate crisis “hostage”, adding to comments by US special climate envoy John Kerry that he does not punish the US but “punishes the world”. Relations between China and the US and its allies have further soured over the drills. In a joint statement after the meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ meeting, Blinken and Australian and Japanese foreign ministers Penny Wong and Yoshimasa Hayashi urged China to immediately halt the drills and condemned the use ballistic missiles. Senior officials “expressed concern over recent actions by the People’s Republic of China that seriously affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, walked out of a plenary session in Cambodia just as Hayashi spoke on Friday. Wang also called a rare news conference late Friday, where he accused Blinken of spreading misinformation. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am Exercises around Taiwan are scheduled to be mostly over by Monday, but further exercises in the Yellow Sea have been announced starting next week. Taiwan has also been hit by cyberattacks this week, including the websites of the president’s office and the foreign and defense ministries, as well as screens at 7-Eleven stores and some train stations. Wu Min-hsuan, head of Taiwan-based cyber monitoring group Doublethink Labs, said the attacks were a demonstration of the psychological and cyber warfare Taiwan could expect to see in the event of an attack or invasion. “They want to create an image that says your security is weak and we are strong,” he said. Wu said there were serious concerns about the Chinese government’s cyberwarfare, but that this week’s attacks were mild and underscored the weak digital links Taiwan had to contend with. Like the world’s media, people in Taiwan are watching. However, Li Ya Chen, a 35-year-old journalist who spent two years in Shanghai between 2017 and 2019, said that despite Beijing’s hostile response, people in Taiwan were “not overly concerned”. “Pelosi’s visit last week showed that Taiwan ultimately wants good relations with the US, and her trip could help raise international support for Taiwan. We are already used to Beijing’s wrath and are well aware of the danger,” he said. “People think Taiwan is now the most dangerous place on Earth, but for most of us here, life goes on.” Additional reporting by Rebecca Ratcliffe and agencies
