China seems to be getting “ready to launch a war” against Taiwan, according to a senior politician from the island nation.
Beijing has warned that recent drills simulating the encirclement of the island nation were intended as a “serious warning” to pro-independence politicians.
Speaking to CNN, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu said: “Look at the military exercises, and also their rhetoric – they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.
“The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it.”
The three days of large-scale air and sea exercises named Joint Sword that ended on Monday were a response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US house speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu
China had warned of serious consequences if that meeting went ahead.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Chinese cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a news conference: “The People’s Liberation Army recently organised and conducted a series of counter-measures in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters, which is a serious warning against the collusion and provocation of Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces.”
“It is a necessary action to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she added.
Beijing is also reportedly planning to impose a no-fly zone in the coming days.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory to be brought under its control by force if necessary and regularly sends ships and warplanes into airspace and waters near the island.
Such missions have grown more frequent in recent years, accompanied by increasingly bellicose language from the administration of Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
Any conflict between the sides could draw in the US, Taiwan’s closest ally, which is required by law to consider all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern”.
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China has kept up military pressure against Taiwan despite the formal conclusion of the military drills.
On Wednesday, Taiwan’s ministry of national defence said it tracked 35 flights by People’s Liberation Army warplanes within the previous 24 hours, as well as eight navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island.
While on Tuesday, President Xi inspected China’s Southern Theatre Command, according to state media.
On his visit, Mr Xi reportedly said it was necessary to deepen military training and preparation, speed up transformation and construction, and comprehensively raise the level of modernisation of the armed forces.
Though the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command would be the lead force in any potential invasion of Taiwan, the Southern Theatre Command would likely have a significant backup role in any such attack.
The vast majority of Taiwan’s population favours maintaining the current de-facto independent status, while the island’s president, Ms Tsai, has said there is no need for a formal declaration since the democracy is already an independent nation.
Despite that, China – which does not recognise Taiwan’s government institutions and has cut off contact with Ms Tsai’s administration – routinely accuses her of plotting formal independence with outside backing.
When China refers to outside help for Taiwan, it is usually thought to mean the US.
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“External forces are intensifying their endeavour of containing China with Taiwan as a tool,” Ms Zhu said.
She also repeated China’s assertion that its military threats are “targeted at Taiwan’s independence separatist activities and interference from external forces, and by no means at our compatriots in Taiwan”.
What that means in practical terms is not clear, although Beijing has long exploited political divisions within Taiwanese society, which boasts a robust democracy and strong civil liberties.
The Chinese military issued a threat as it concluded the exercises, saying its troops “can fight at any time to resolutely smash any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ and foreign interference attempts”.
