China's military threat not diminishing, says Taiwan president

The threat of force from China has not diminished, butTaiwan will not escalate or cause conflict , President Tsai Ing-wen said Thursday. A source told Reuters that the number of warships in the Taiwan Strait had "decreased significantly."

China, enraged by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to autonomous Taiwan last week, had earlier carried out its largest-ever military exercises around the island it claims to be its own. Extending beyond her 4 days. original plan.

The Chinese military said Wednesday that it had "completed various missions" around Taiwan but would conduct regular patrols. This suggests a possible end to the era of military exercises, but also suggests that Beijing will maintain pressure on the island.

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It included last week's Chinese exercise ballistic missile launches, some of which flew over the island's capital, Taipei, and simulated sea and air attacks in the surrounding air and waters.

Taiwan also conducts relatively small annual exercises, raising tensions Prepare its forces to repel an invasion scheduled ahead of time. Tsai visited Air Force headquarters on Thursday and spoke with an officer.

"Currently, the threat of China's military power has not diminished," Tsai told officers, according to a statement from her office.

added the office.

"We will resolutely defend our sovereignty and national security, and uphold the line of defense of democracy and freedom."

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Fewer than 10 Chinese and Taiwanese naval vessels were anchored near the center line of the Taiwan Strait as of Thursday afternoon. A source briefed on the matter told Reuters, adding that the number was "significantly down" from the previous day.

Several Chinese naval vessels carried out missions off the east coast of Taiwan and near the Japanese island of Yonaguni. was Taiwan said.

Yonaguni Island is the closest Japanese island to Taiwan, about 100 km from Taiwan.

Several Chinese fighter jets briefly passed through the unofficial buffer zone separating China and Taiwan early on Thursday, the person added.

Greater Pressure

Tsai acknowledged the pressure the Taiwanese military was under.

"In the face of China's recent military provocations, the country's armed forces are at the forefront, and their tasks will become increasingly cumbersome and the pressure even greater," she said. .

READ MORE: China military exercises show ambitions beyond Taiwan, Taipei warns

The Chinese military has made no further comments on Thursday's military activity around Taiwan.

However, the two sides continued their war of words, with Taiwan repeatedly rejecting China's proposed "one country, two systems" model to bring the islands under Beijing's control.

Only the people of Taiwan can decide their future, Joanne Ou, spokeswoman for Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference in Taipei.

China is using Pelosi's visit to Taipei as "an excuse to create a new normal to intimidate the people of Taiwan," Ou added.

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In Beijing, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin warned that "achieving the complete reunification of the motherland" will not be stopped. It is a historical trend that cannot be done.

"While we are willing to create a wider space for peaceful reunification, we will never leave room for all forms of separatist activity for Taiwan's independence.

China has stated that its relationship with Taiwan is an internal matter and that it reserves the right to subjugate the island by force if necessary.

Taiwan has been under threat of Chinese invasion since 1949, when the defeated Nationalist government of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan after Mao Zedong's Communist Party won the civil war.

© 2022 Reuters