TAIPEI: China’s military announced fresh military drills in the seas and airspace around Taiwan on Monday (Aug 8), a day after the scheduled end of its largest ever exercises to protest against last week’s visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
China’s Eastern Theatre Command said it would conduct joint drills focusing on anti-submarine and sea assault operations – confirming the fears of some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would continue to maintain pressure on Taiwan’s defences.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry condemned the move, saying China, which claims the self-ruled island as its own, was deliberately creating crises. It demanded Beijing stop its military actions and “pull back from the edge”.
“In the face of military intimidation created by China, Taiwan will not be afraid nor back down, and will more firmly defend its sovereignty, national security, and free and democratic way of life,” the ministry said in a statement.
US President Joe Biden, in his first public comments on Taiwan since Pelosi’s visit, said he was not worried about Taiwan but was concerned about China’s actions in the region.
“I’m concerned they are moving as much as they are,” Biden told reporters in Delaware. “But I don’t think they’re going to do anything more than they are.”
Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington.
The duration and precise location of the latest drills is not yet known, but Taiwan has already eased flight restrictions near the six earlier Chinese exercise areas surrounding the island.
Taiwan’s defence ministry later said it had detected 39 Chinese air force planes and 13 navy ships in and around the Taiwan Strait on Monday. Twenty-one Chinese air force planes had entered Taiwan’s air defence zone, including fighter jets that crossed the median line in the northern part of the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said.