Taiwan accused the Chinese army on Saturday of simulating an attack on its territory and criticized the “irresponsible” behavior of China’s “autocratic regime”, which redoubled his retaliation for the visit to the island of US legislator Nancy Pelosi.
Relations between the two superpowers plummeted following a visit by House Speaker Democrat Pelosi to the self-governing island that China considers part of its territory.
Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan this week was seen as a “provocation” by China, which in revenge began its largest military exercises around Taiwan in decades.
According to analysts, the maneuvers, which will last until Sunday, are aimed at practicing an island blockade.
Simulated attack?
Taiwanese authorities on Saturday accused China of staging an attack on its main island.
There are “multiple batches of communist planes and ships conducting activities around the Taiwan Strait,” the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“They were considered to be carrying out a simulated attack on the main island of Taiwan,” it added.
In responsethe island’s military mobilized air and ground patrols and deployed ground-based missile systems, the same source said in a tweet.
The Council for Mainland Affairs, the Taiwanese body that manages relations with mainland China, denounced Beijing’s “brutal and deplorable actions.”
“We call on all our democratic partners around the world to continue to support Taiwan and counter the irresponsible behavior of an autocratic regime that undermines peace with its military adventurism,” he said.
United States message
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Philippine counterpart on Saturday and said Washington was “determined to act responsibly” to avert a global crisis.
The environment became the latest casualty in the geopolitical battle, as Beijing said it would withdraw from talks and cooperation agreements with Washington, particularly on climate change and defense cooperation.
Both countries, the world’s biggest polluters they had pledged to work together to accelerate climate action, but agreement now looks uncertain.
China should not take talks on global issues such as climate change “hostage,” Blinken added. This “does not punish the United States, but the world,” he insisted.
“It is impossible to address the climate emergency if the number one and two economies and the number one and two emitters do not take action,” Alden Meyer, of the E3G climate think tank, told AFP.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the two superpowers must continue to work together for the good of the world.
Flags in favor of the independence of Taiwan in Taipei, this Saturday. Photo: AFP
“For the secretary general, there is no way to solve the world’s most urgent problems without effective dialogue and cooperation between the two countries,” said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
The scale and intensity of the Chinese exercises have drawn criticism in the United States and other countries. The White House summoned the Chinese ambassador on Friday in Washington to claim him for the actions of the Asian giant.
In a statement, both Blinken and the foreign ministers of Jan and Australia called on China to end its maneuvers.
Exercises with live ammunition
But Beijing said it would also a live fire drill in the southern Yellow Sea -located between China and the Korean peninsula- from Saturday to August 15.
In a sign of how close they have come to Taiwan, Chinese forces on Friday released video of a pilot filming the island’s coastline and mountains from his cockpit.
And the army’s Eastern Command shared a photo purportedly taken from a warship patrolling near Taiwan clearly showing the island’s coastline.
According to Chinese state television CCTV, Chinese missiles flew directly over Taiwan during the maneuvers, although it was not confirmed.
But Taipei remains defiant, insisting it will not bow to its “evil neighbor.”
Experts point out, however, that the decline in relations between the two superpowers could deepen and be long-lasting.
“The relationship is very bad right now,” said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund.
The suspension on Friday of the military and maritime dialogue between the two countries is “particularly worrying”, he said.
“We don’t know what else they will do,” he added.
John Culver, a former CIA analyst for Asia, considered that Beijing’s main intention with its military exercises is to change the status quo.
“I think this is the new normal,” he said in a discussion organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“The Chinese want to show (…) that a line was crossed with the visit” of Pelosi, he remarked.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
