Chinese missiles flew over Taiwan during large-scale military drills in response to Pelosi’s visit, Chinese state media reported today.
THE China decided to impose sanctions against the speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family in retaliation for her “vicious” and “provocative” actions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced today.
“Despite China’s serious concerns and strong objection, Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan, strongly interfering in China’s internal affairs, undermining China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, trampling on the principle of one China, and threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Chinese missiles flew over Taiwan during large-scale military drills in response to Pelosi’s visit, Chinese state media reported today.
Pelosi angered Beijing moving to the island, where he spent the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. She is the highest-ranking US official to travel to Taiwan in 25 years.
China, which considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory, launched the largest military training exercises in its history around the island in six sectors on Thursday in retaliation.
China’s military and government have yet to officially confirm the missile overflights during the high schools, while Taiwanese authorities also refuse to confirm.
Blinken denounces extreme and disproportionate challenges
The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken denounced China’s military exercises around Taiwan, calling them “provocations that constitute a significant escalation of tension”, as Chinese warships and aircraft breached the median line in the strait separating Taiwan from mainland China, while Chinese missiles flew above the island.
The US Secretary of State reiterated that there is no pretext for Beijing to carry out these exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
“These challenges constitute significant escalation. You have seen how Beijing has been trying to change the status quo for Taiwan for some time … Now they are taking dangerous actions to another level,” said Anthony Blinken from Phnom Penh, where he is attending the Asean summit.
“China chose to overreact and use Ms. Pelosi’s visit as a pretext. The fact is that her visit was peaceful. There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate military response, which is fueling the escalation.”
“We had predicted that China would react in this way. In fact, we had described this very scenario,” he said.
In Taipei, Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense announced that Chinese warplanes and ships crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait.
“These Chinese exercises, whether it is the launching ballistic missiles or the intentional violation of the middle line of the strait, is a very provocative action,” the statement of the Ministry of Defense states.
The issue of the violation of the middle line, which is the unofficial border between mainland China and Taiwan, is of great importance because the strait is only 130 kilometers wide in some places and incursions increase the risk of accidental military conflict.
The two militaries used to respect the middle line and there were rare violations by Chinese warships and aircraft. However, since 2020, when Beijing announced that this informal border does not exist, the Chinese armed forces have increased violations. In recent years, Beijing has systematically violated Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, which is much wider than the island’s airspace.
Taipei reported peaking at 49 Zone violations on Wednesday and Thursday, 44 of which also breached the median line.
Taiwanese media reported that Chinese missiles flew over the island during Chinese military exercises.
China’s armed forces and government have not officially confirmed the event, while Taiwanese authorities also refuse to confirm it.
However, Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced that of the nine missiles it detected, four flew over Taiwan.
“This time, our drills included live fire and it’s the first time they flew over Taiwan,” Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University, which is part of the Chinese military, told state-run Chinese television CCTV.
The Chinese professor praised the capabilities of the Chinese military and pointed out that the missiles crossed part of Taiwan’s airspace covered by Patriot missiles, the surface-to-air missile system considered central to Taiwan’s defense against China.
During Chinese military exercises being conducted in response to Beijing’s visit to Taipei by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China’s armed forces encircled Taiwan for the first time and deployed within a short distance of the island. The exercises will last until noon on Sunday.
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