On Wednesday, 27 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defense zone, according to Taipei, during US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contentious visit to the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.
“27 PLA aircraft… entered the surrounding area of (Republic of China) on August 3, 2022,” the defense ministry said in a tweet.
While Pelosi was in town, Taiwan maintained a defiant attitude while an enraged China prepared military drills that would put the island’s coasts in peril.
Despite repeated, stern threats from Beijing, which regards the island as its own and had stated that it would view Pelosi’s visit as a serious provocation, Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday.
Quickly after, China announced military exercises in some of the busiest waterways in the world, close to Taiwan’s shore, that it claimed were “necessary and just.”
“In the current struggle surrounding Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the United States are the provocateurs, China is the victim,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said.
The 23 million-person island, however, would not be intimidated, according to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
“Facing deliberately heightened military threats, Taiwan will not back down. We will… continue to hold the line of defense for democracy,” Tsai said at an event with Pelosi in Taipei.
She also expressed her gratitude to the 82-year-old US lawmaker for “taking concrete steps to demonstrate your steadfast support for Taiwan at this crucial time.”
China opposes nations having diplomatic exchanges with Taipei and works to keep Taiwan isolated on the global stage.
The most prominent elected US official to visit Taiwan in the previous 25 years is Pelosi, who is second in line for the presidency.
“Today, our delegation… came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan,” she said at the event with Tsai.
She added her group had come “in friendship to Taiwan” and “in peace to the region”.
Before departing Taiwan, Pelosi also visited with a number of dissidents who had previously come under Chinese retribution, including the student leader of the Tiananmen protests, Wu’er Kaixi.
“We are in high agreement that Taiwan is in the frontline (of democracy),” Wu’er said.
“Both the United States and Taiwan governments need to… conduct more in defending human rights.”
On Wednesday night, a delegation led by Pelosi departed Taiwan for South Korea, her next destination on an Asia tour. She will then fly to Japan.
Prior to the visit, the Joe Biden administration stated that US policy toward Taiwan remained unaltered.
This entails backing its administration while internationally recognizing Beijing as superior to Taipei, as well as opposing either a formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or a coercive takeover by China.
Despite reportedly objecting to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said she was free to go wherever she pleased.
In response to Pelosi’s visit, Beijing summoned US Ambassador Nicholas Burns, and the Chinese military said it was “on high alert” and would “launch a series of targeted military actions in response.”
In the Taiwan Strait, which divides the island from the mainland of China and crosses important shipping lanes, there will be “long-range live ammunition shooting” as part of the exercises.
According to Chinese military coordinates given, the practice area will occasionally be less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Taiwan’s coast.
“Some of the areas of China’s drills breach into… (Taiwan’s) territorial waters,” defense ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said at a press conference Wednesday.
“This is an irrational move to challenge the international order.”
Beijing has been accused of “vicious intimidation” that will “seriously harm the peace and development of entire East Asia,” according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which formulates the government’s China policies.
Additionally, it urged democratic nations to “come together and take a grave stance to punish and deter” Beijing.
South Korea urged for discussion to maintain regional peace, while Japan, a significant US ally in the region, said Wednesday that it had voiced its concerns to China about the exercises.
China issued restrictions on Taiwanese fruit and seafood imports on Wednesday, citing the discovery of pesticide residue and the coronavirus. Sand shipments to the island were also stopped.
“Those who offend China will be punished,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters Thursday while on a trip to Cambodia.
