Further visits to Taiwan anger China
BEIJING: China’s military said it carried out more exercises near Taiwan yesterday as a group of United States lawmakers visited the Chineseclaimed island and met President Tsai Ingwen, in what Beijing said was an infringement of its sovereignty.
The five US lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei on an unannounced visit late on Sunday, the second highlevel group to visit following that of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, which set off several days of Chinese war games.
The Chinese military unit responsible for the area adjacent to Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, said it had organised multiservice joint combat readiness patrols and combat drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan yesterday.
The exercises were ‘‘a stern deterrent to the United States and Taiwan continuing to play political tricks and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait’’, it said.
China’s Defence Ministry said the lawmakers’ trip infringed on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and ‘‘fully exposes the true face of the United States as a spoiler and spoiler of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait’’.
‘‘The Chinese People’s Liberation Army continues to train and prepare for war, resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism and foreign interference.’’
Neither statement gave details of the drills.
Taiwan Premier Su Tsengchang said they would not be deterred by China's response to such visits by foreign friends.
``We can't just do nothing because there is an evil neighbour next door, and not dare to let visitors or friends come,'' he told reporters.
Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, and ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington.
The latest group of US lawmakers to visit Taiwan were due to meet Tsai yesterday. Her office has yet to comment on that meeting.
The group left Taiwan late yesterday. It was not immediately clear where they were going.
The de facto US embassy in Taipei said they had also met Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and members of Taiwan's parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee.
The US has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to provide the democratically governed island with the means to defend itself.
China’s US embassy said yesterday ‘‘members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US Government’s oneChina policy’’ and argued the latest congressional visit ‘‘once again proves that the US does not want to see stability across the Taiwan Straits and has spared no effort to stir up confrontation . . . and interfere in China’s internal affairs’’.
China has never ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control. — Reuters