The military exercises promoted by China around Taiwan in response to the visit of US congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to the island entered the fourth consecutive day on Sunday (7), the date set for them to be ended, as announced by Beijing.
The island’s Defense Ministry said at least 14 Chinese ships had conducted activities in the Taiwan Strait and 22 aircraft had entered the defense zone, in what the ministry described as yet another simulation of an attack on the region.
The maneuvers were scheduled to end at 12 pm on Sunday (1 am GMT), and Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport said flights were starting to resume in its airspace, but still being directed to areas far from the planned exercise sites.
Meanwhile, Beijing has expanded the scope of its military maneuvers, announcing on Saturday that it will hold exercises in four regions of the Yellow Sea by August 15 and in four areas of the Bohai Sea for a month. The regions lie to the north of Taiwan.
According to a report by the Reuters news agency, a commentator on Chinese state television said that the exercises promoted by Beijing would become regular around Taipei, adding that “the historic task of reunifying China can be accomplished”.
Su Tseng-chang, premier of Taiwan, said on Sunday that China’s actions were arrogant. Speaking to journalists in Taipei, he criticized what he called “foreign enemies who try to undermine the morale of the Taiwanese people through attacks and disinformation campaigns”.
The premier was referring to statements by Chinese state media alleging that the country’s warships had sailed in Taiwan’s territorial waters near Hualien County. In a statement released on Sunday, the island’s Defense Ministry denied the information.
In a video shared on social networks, the folder paid tribute to Father’s Day and said that the situation this year makes the date special. “Our members are busy with their work instead of being with their families; to protect people’s lives, we stand guard while there are threats,” the caption read.
The Chinese exercises around the island began on Thursday (4) after the visit of Pelosi, Speaker of the US House, to the site. The Democrat became the highest-ranking American official to visit the island in 25 years, an episode that opened the sharpest crisis between the two powers since the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995.
Taiwan is in practice independent and, unlike mainland China, has democratic elections. Beijing, however, has considered the island a rebellious province since nationalists defeated in the Civil War in 1949 emigrated there and forged a new system there.
Xi Jinping’s administration has once again positioned the region’s reunification as a central policy for the country, claiming that the task would be essential for the nation’s rejuvenation. Only 14 countries maintain formal diplomatic relations with the island — a diplomatic asphyxiation is in place through the “one China” principle.
The US, however, despite having formal ties with China, maintains economic and military collaboration with Taipei.
