Show of force has Taiwan on edge

Taiwan accused the Chinese army of simulating an attack on its main island as Beijing continued its retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taipei visit.

Relations between the two superpowers nosedived following Ms Pelosi’s trip to China’s self-ruled neighbour – which it claims as its territory – prompting calls from the UN for an urgent de-escalation of tensions.

Beijing maintained some of its largest-ever military drills around Taiwan on the weekend, which analysts say were aimed at practising a blockade and ultimate invasion.

Taipei said it observed “multiple batches” of Chinese planes and ships operating in the Taiwan Strait, some of which crossed a demarcation line that divides the strait, but which Beijing does not recognise.

“They were judged to be conducting a simulation of an attack on Taiwan’s main island,” the island’s defence ministry said.

In response, the democratic island’s military mobilised air and land patrols and deployed land-based missile systems, the ministry said.

Taiwan’s army said “20 Communist planes and 14 ships were detected in the waters around Taiwan conducting joint air-sea exercises”.

At least 14 of them crossed the median line, it said, forcing Taipei to scramble patrol planes to ward off the jets.

Taiwan’s army released images on Saturday of a sailor on one of its frigates monitoring a Chinese ship within touching distance alongside the caption: “Absolutely not photoshopped!” It also showed soldiers activating its land-based missile systems to track the Chinese planes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was “determined to act responsibly” to avoid a major global crisis.

To show how close its forces have been getting to Taiwan’s shores, Beijing released a video of an air force pilot filming the island’s coastline and mountains from his cockpit.