CHINA’S CHILLING THREAT OVER U.S. TRIP TO TAIWAN
Beijing vows ‘targeted military action’ after ‘extremely dangerous’ visit by Speaker Pelosi
CHINA last night threatened to encircle Taiwan with warships and jets after the US speaker flew in on a provocative trip.
A defiant Nancy Pelosi cranked up already heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing by tearing into China soon after landing in Taipei.
She accused the Chinese Communist Party of ‘threatening democracy’ and criticised its ‘disregard for the rule of law’.
Mrs Pelosi has become the most prominent US politician to visit the island in 25 years – though President Biden was not in favour of the visit.
China responded by putting its military on high alert and announcing ‘targeted action’ in the form of air and sea drills that would surround Taiwan, including live firing and missile
test launches. The potential for conflict comes amid growing global unrest following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is said to have increased the likelihood of China taking similar action in Taiwan.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned only this week that the world is just ‘one misunderstanding, one miscalculation, away from nuclear annihilation’ at a time of danger not seen since the Cold War.
Last night, Taipei said 21 Chinese military planes had entered Taiwan’s air defence zone.
Beijing’s fighter planes had earlier sent a warning as they buzzed the Taiwan Strait, the 100 milewide strip of water that separates the two nations.
Chinese media confirmed its J-20 stealth jets had taken to the skies around the island, and two of Beijing’s warships – a destroyer and a frigate – are in the seas to the east.
The firing of missiles into the Taiwan Strait would be the first such act since 1995, the last time there was deep concern about the possibility of all-out war.
Pictures posted on Chinese social network Weibo appeared to show tanks amassing on the coast of Fujian, the closest point on mainland China to the island.
In bizarre scenes, beachgoers stood watching as dozens of tanks rolled across the sand.
Columns of armoured vehicles were also seen moving through the
‘Unambiguously escalatory’
nearby city of Xiamen, and a video posted on state media sites earlier this week showed off Chinese military hardware and urged troops to ‘be ready to fight upon command, bury all incoming enemies’.
China considers Taiwan its territory and has indicated through repeated warnings that a visit from the US speaker of the House of Representatives would be a major affront.
Mrs Pelosi’s US C-40C military aircraft took an indirect route to Taiwan from Malaysia yesterday in an apparent attempt to avoid being intercepted by Chinese jets before landing at 10.30pm local time.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said: ‘These moves, like playing with fire, are extremely dangerous. Those who play with fire will perish by it.’
Nathan Ruser, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the hastily announced military exercises, due to last until Sunday, were ‘ unambiguously escalatory’ and ‘the most provocative moves by China in decades [which] would qualify for the UN definition of state aggression.’
Taipei’s defence ministry said the ‘Chinese manoeuvres aim to intimidate our citizens psychologically [but] we are closely monitoring the situation and have strengthened our preparations’. ‘ We have confidence and the ability to protect our security,’ it added.
Mrs Pelosi’s visit comes amid fears that China could invade selfruled Taiwan in order to unify the island with the mainland.
The US, like the UK, does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it is seen as a bulwark against China’s influence in Asia and Joe Biden has vowed to defend it.
In a statement released moments after she landed, Mrs Pelosi said the visit was to ‘honour America’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy’.
The speaker, 82, said the trip to Asia, which includes stops in Singapore, South Korea and Japan, was ‘focused on mutual security, economic partnership and democratic governance’ rather than changing US policy.
She said: ‘America’s solidarity with the 23million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy’.
In an article for the Washington Post, which went online after her arrival, Mrs Pelosi escalated her rhetoric, saying that Taiwan’s democracy was ‘under threat’.
She wrote that the US Department of Defence had concluded that the ramping up of military activity by the Chinese meant they were ‘likely’ planning to use force to take the island. Mrs Pelosi criticised China’s ‘abysmal human rights record and disregard for the rule of law’, which continued as ‘President Xi Jinping tightens his grip on power’.
She wrote: ‘We cannot stand by as the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] proceeds to threaten Taiwan – and democracy itself.’
In a telephone call with President Xi last week, Mr Biden explained that he could not control Mrs Pelosi because Congress is an independent branch of government. Ordering her not to go would also have been seen as buckling to Chinese pressure.
The speaker has been a staunch critic of China throughout her three decades in Congress and 30 years ago unfurled a banner in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in memory of those killed in the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro
‘Threaten democracy itself’
democracy protesters. Mrs Pelosi was also a strong supporter of the 2019 freedom protests in Hong Kong.
She was expected to meet Taiwan’s president today and visit the country’s parliament during the trip, which was not officially announced and will last at least a day.
Barricades were erected outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei where Mrs Pelosi was expected to stay amid heightened security.
The visit showed ‘rock solid’ support from Washington, Taiwan said. But there were some protests against her presence. chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua chunying said there would be ‘serious consequences’ for america resulting from the trip. During his call with Mr Biden, President Xi warned him about ‘playing with fire’ over Taiwan.
adding to the tensions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Mrs Pelosi’s visit would ‘exacerbate the situation in the region’ and that it fully supported china.
The US military is expected to increase its movements in the region during the visit.