We have right to strike back, says Taiwan

Incursions by Chinese jets ratchet up tensions between countries

Taiwan said on Monday its armed forces had the right to self-defence and counterattack amid “harassment and threats”, in an apparent warning to China, which last week sent numerous jets across the midline of the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

Tensions have spiked in recent months between Taipei and Beijing.

Multiple Chinese aircraft flew across the midline of the Taiwan Strait and into the island’s air defence identification zone on Friday and Saturday, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets to intercept and President Tsai Ing-wen to call China a threat to the region.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement it had “clearly defined” procedures for the island’s first response amid “high frequency of harassment and threats from the enemy’s warships and aircraft this year”.

It said Taiwan had the right to “self-defence and to counterattack” and that it followed the guideline of “no escalation of conflict and no triggering incidents”.

Taiwan would not provoke but is also was “not afraid of the enemy”, it added.

The Chinese drills took place last week as Beijing expressed anger at the visit of a senior US official to Taipei.

China has been angered by stepped-up US support for Taiwan, including two visits in as many months by top officials, one in August by health secretary Alex Azar and the other last week by Keith Krach, undersecretary for economic affairs.

The US, which has no official diplomatic ties with the island but is its strongest international backer, is also planning major new arms sales to Taiwan.

China this month held rare large-scale drills near Taiwan, which Taipei called serious provocation.

Beijing said the exercise was a necessity to protect its sovereignty.

China claims democratically-run Taiwan as its own territory, to be taken by force if needed, a threat the island has lived with since 1949, when defeated Kuomintang, or Nationalist, forces fled there after their defeat by the Communists in the Chinese civil war.

Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen says the island is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name, and that the People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan and has no right to.

China calls Taiwan its most important and sensitive issue in US ties.

For China’s ruling Communist Party, Taiwan is the last part of the nation still awaiting “liberation” after the 1949 victory, adding an extra historical significance.

Taiwan and China do not have an official dialogue mechanism, meaning that any accidental clash between their fighter jets, for example, could quickly spiral out of control.

Taiwan’s air force now regularly scrambles to see off approaching Chinese aircraft.

A conflict over Taiwan may suck in the US and its Asian allies, though it is an open question whether Washington would, or could, come to Taipei’s aid. China may quickly overwhelm Taiwan with missile and cyber attacks before the US has a chance to respond.

However, any war would be damaging for China too, in terms of its international reputation and economically.

Not only is Taiwan in a key geographic location on the edge of the Pacific between the disputed South China Sea and Japan, but it is a tech powerhouse, home to the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd.

Taiwan’s military is welltrained and well-armed, but is dwarfed by China’s People’s Liberation Army, which is adding stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and advanced missiles in the throes of an impressive modernisation programme.

Whatever happens, the reaction of the US will be crucial.