Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
Sam Yeh | AFP | Getty Images
Taiwan’s foreign minister said Tuesday China is using military drills, which it launched in protest at the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as a game plan to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan
self-governing island.
Joseph Wu offered no timeline for a possible invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its own, at a news conference in Taipei.
He said Taiwan would not be intimidated even if the exercises continued, as China often breaches the unofficial centerline along the Taiwan Strait.
“China has used the drills in its military playbook to prepare to invade Taiwan,” Wu said.
“It conducts large-scale military exercises and rocket launches, as well as cyber attacks, disinformation and economic coercion to weaken public morale in Taiwan.
“After the exercises are complete, China may seek to routineize its actions to destroy the long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” Wu said.
Such moves threatened regional security and provided “a clear picture of China’s geostrategic ambitions beyond Taiwan,” Wu said, calling for more international support to prevent China from effectively controlling the strait.
A Pentagon official said Monday Washington stands by its assessment that China will not attempt to invade Taiwan for the next two years.
Wu spoke as military tensions simmered after the scheduled end of four days of China’s biggest drills around the island on Sunday – drills that included ballistic missile launches and simulated sea and air strikes in the skies and seas around Taiwan.
China’s Eastern Theater Command announced on Monday that it would conduct new joint exercises focusing on anti-submarine and naval attack operations – confirming fears by some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing will keep up the pressure on Taiwan’s defenses.
On Tuesday, the command announced it is continuing to hold military drills and drills in the seas and airspace around Taiwan, with a focus on blockades and supply logistics.
A person familiar with security planning in areas around Taiwan described Tuesday to Reuters an ongoing “standoff” around the center line involving about 10 warships each from China and Taiwan.
“China kept trying to push itself to the center line,” the person said.
“Taiwanese forces there have tried to keep international waterways open.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Tuesday that China’s continued military drills “emphasise that its threats of violence have not diminished.”
When Pelosi left the region last Friday, China also cut some lines of communication with the United States, including theater-level military talks and discussions on climate change.
Taiwan began its own long-planned exercises on Tuesday, firing howitzer artillery into the sea in southern Pingtung County, drawing a small group of curious onlookers to a nearby beach.
US President Joe Biden, in his first public statement on the issue since Pelosi’s visit Monday, said he was concerned about China’s actions in the region but not worried about Taiwan.
“I’m concerned that they are moving as much as they are,” Biden told reporters in Delaware, referring to China. “But I don’t think they will do more than they are.”
Undersecretary for Defense Policy Colin Kahl also said the US military will continue to conduct cross-strait trips in the coming weeks.
China has never ruled out taking Taiwan by force, and on Monday Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China is conducting normal military exercises “in our waters” in an open, transparent and professional manner, adding that Taiwan is part of China.
Taiwan has rejected China’s claims of sovereignty, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island’s future.