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TAIPEI — The China Although the threat of force from the United States has not diminished, Taiwan will not escalate or create a conflict, President Tsai Ing-wen said Thursday. Infuriated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to autonomous Taiwan last week, China previously extended its largest-ever exercise around the island it claims to own, beyond the originally scheduled four days.
The Chinese military said Wednesday it had "completed various missions" around Taiwan but would conduct regular patrols. This suggests a possible end to the era of military exercises, but the Chinese government will maintain pressure on Taiwan on the island.
Last week's Chinese exercises included the launch of ballistic missiles, some of which flew over Taipei, the island's capital, and launched sea and air attacks in the surrounding air and waters. simulated.
Taiwan also conducts relatively small annual exercises planned before tensions rise and aimed at preparing its forces to repel aggression. Tsai visited Air Force headquarters on Thursday and spoke with an officer.
"Currently, the Chinese military threat has not diminished," Tsai told officers, according to a statement from her office.
Tsai said she reiterated that Taiwan would not escalate or cause conflict, her office added.
"We will resolutely defend our sovereignty and national security, and uphold the line of defense of democracy and freedom." Fewer than 10 Chinese and Taiwanese naval vessels were anchored near the line, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Several Chinese naval vessels were conducting missions off Taiwan's east coast and near Japan's Yonaguni island, she said, according to sources familiar with regional security plans near Taiwan. Told.
Yonaguni Island is the closest Japanese island to Taiwan, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Taiwan.
Several Chinese fighter jets briefly passed through the unofficial buffer zone separating China and Taiwan by the Strait 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. .
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 island under Beijing's control.
53}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 was using Pelosi's visit to Taipei as "an excuse to create a new normal to intimidate the people of Taiwan," she added Ou.
In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said "to achieve complete reunification of the motherland" is an unstoppable historical trend.
"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 the island after Mao Zedong's Communist Party won the civil war. (Reporting by Yimou Li, Additional reporting by Martin Pollard in Beijing, Writing by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Raissa Kasorovsky, Robert Barthel)
