Taiwan and China war

Chinese military drills circling Taiwan set up a potential standoff. Through citrus, sand and fish, China sends an economic message to Taiwan. 'This is ...

Beijing had resisted his plan to visit the island directly after China, he said, so officials in Washington and Beijing “worked out a deal” in which he would first travel from China to Japan before heading to Taiwan. They portrayed Ms. Pelosi’s trip as part of a systematic effort by the United States to “use Taiwan to contain China” and sabotage Beijing’s efforts at unification with the island. “You have to stand up the Chinese communists or they will interpret it as a sign of weakness, and they’ll grow even more aggressive,” he said. North Korea called the trip “imprudent interference” and said it was “arousing serious concern of the international community,” according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. In Australia, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, urged “all parties” to de-escalate tensions and appeared to signal that China and the United States should try to calm things down. “Such a move, betting on and in contempt for the well-being of more than 20 million people in Taiwan, is extremely selfish.” It said Mr. Yang had long advocated Taiwan’s independence and sought to promote Taiwan as a country to join the United Nations. Ms. Hung had spent hours at the airport on Tuesday night, hoping to “see Pelosi with my own eyes,” and was now trying to catch a glimpse of her again — so far, in vain. “I believe this is the beginning of a changing U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan.” Biden administration officials have said Ms. Pelosi’s visit is not the first of its kind and does not mean a shift in policy over China and Taiwan. “In view of the brutal Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, it is important to make it clear that the international community does not accept such behavior.” “America’s determination to preserve democracy here in Taiwan and around the world remains ironclad.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), left, poses with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen at the president's office on Wednesday in Taipei, Taiwan. Handout/Getty ...

And certainly, some people have pointed out that any amount of military intimidation is not good and becoming accustomed to living under that sword is not necessarily healthy for Taiwan in the long run. I think they think this is the U.S. using all its little levers to do sneaky things that add up to a policy of creeping support toward Taiwan, permanent separation from the mainland. I don’t think the Beijing government wants a war with anybody at this moment — for precisely the reasons that were laid out earlier in this conversation. And I just think there’s a lot of good reasons not to gratuitously undermine Taiwan’s security and the relationship between the PRC and the United States. I think that would be hard to believe for people from many political backgrounds in a parliamentary system; it’s inconceivable that there would be that kind of daylight between the executive and legislative functions in government; but from the PRC perspective, it’s just laughable. SR: Yes. And it doesn’t matter to China. And that I think is the most important thing. You can talk to people in the State Department, in the intelligence community, in the Defense Department who have a range of views about things, and it’s possible that they talk to people in Congress outside the chain of command, which would not be fantastic, but they probably do. But I think what the Beijing leadership was trying to do in the run-up to this visit was to prevent it. Now they have got to show that they really meant it, that this is not just posturing in the hope of maybe influencing something around the margins. I read something yesterday that I thought was really interesting, that this whole Taiwan brouhaha that has been front and center in the U.S. for several days has not really been front-page news in the PRC domestic media. If the Beijing leadership decided that this visit by Nancy Pelosi was a big step forward in that trend, they wanted to draw a line here. In the end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was brief — she spent 24 hours on the island — but it was historic and controversial, and its implications may be felt for a long time.

China plans to escalate its military exercises near Taiwan, prompting fears of a fresh crisis in the region.

Yet some experts say Xi’s response to Pelosi’s visit is likely to be as much about domestic issues in China as it is about asserting power. Taiwan has never been part of the People’s Republic of China and says it is already a sovereign nation with no need to declare independence. There have been several crises in the Taiwan Strait, most recently in 1995. According to Justin Bassi, executive director for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China’s military exercises will probably be calibrated to avoid escalation from the US. China flexed its military muscle with months of military drills, including firing missiles 35 miles from Taiwan’s ports. Ahead of the exercises, which are due to begin on Thursday, Taiwan said 27 Chinese warplanes had entered its air defence zone.

State media frame military exercises in six areas around self-ruled island as war plan rehearsal.

“There is no justification to use a visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait,” a statement from the G7’s foreign ministers’ said. Beijing had threatened “serious consequences” if she went ahead with the visit. “It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally. “We immediately fired flares to issue warnings and to drive them away. “If the conventional missiles of the PLA were to be launched from the mainland toward the west of Taiwan and hit targets to its east, this means that the missiles would fly over the island, which is unprecedented,” the paper quoted another Chinese mainland military expert Zhang Xuefeng as saying. On Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense described China’s military activities as “irrational” and with the “intention of changing the status quo and undermining regional peace and stability”.

Beijing says large-scale drills around island have started; Taiwan defence ministry said its website suffered cyber attacks and went offline temporarily.

It also reiterated “Asean member states’ support for their respective One-China Policy”. They continue to harass us and increase our air defence pressure.” The official describes todays events so far, saying about 10 Chinese navy ships briefly crossed the median line before they were “driven away” by Taiwanese navy boats. Taiwan’s ministry of defence said its armed forces are “operating as usual” and monitoring surroundings. The six identified zones surround the island, and occasionally overlap with Taiwanese territorial waters. “The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted long-range live-fire shooting training in the Taiwan Straits on Thursday at around 1:00 p.m. and carried out precision strikes on specific areas in the eastern part of the Taiwan Straits,” state broadcaster CGTN added.

China's largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan kicked off Thursday, in a show of force straddling vital international shipping lanes after a ...

"China's announced military exercises represent a clear escalation from the existing baseline of Chinese military activities around Taiwan and from the last Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995-1996," said Amanda Hsiao, senior analyst for China at the International Crisis Group. A Chinese military source also told AFP the exercises would be staged "in preparation for actual combat". The Group of Seven industrialised nations has condemned the drills, saying in a statement there was "no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait". "The Ministry of National Defence stresses that it will uphold the principle of preparing for war without seeking war, and with an attitude of not escalating conflict and causing disputes," it said in a statement. It sparked a furious reaction from Beijing, which vowed "punishment" and announced military drills in the seas around Taiwan -- some of the world's busiest waterways. Pelosi was the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, and said her trip made it "unequivocally clear" that the United States would not abandon a democratic ally.

Chinese military exercises around Taiwan are set to disrupt one of the world's busiest shipping zones, analysts told AFP, highlighting the island's critical ...

“It’s not in Beijing’s interest to interrupt civilian travel and trade in the region,” said Natasha Kassam of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank. Given its military advances, “China very likely has the ability to enforce an air and maritime blockade against Taiwan,” said Thomas Shugart, an expert at US think tank the Center for a New American Security. China’s Global Times newspaper said Wednesday the drills were aimed at showing that China’s military is “capable of blockading the entire island”. “The Chinese undoubtedly wanted to demonstrate resolve in ways that went beyond what they did in 1996,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia programme at the US-based German Marshall Fund think tank. “The shutting down of these transport routes — even temporarily — has consequences not only for Taiwan, but also trade flows tied to Japan and South Korea.” “Given that much of the world’s container fleet passes through that waterway, there will inevitably be disruptions to global supply chains due to the rerouting,” said James Char, an associate research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Bank of England: The monetary policy committee meets today. The central bank could raise interest rates by half a percentage point, the biggest increase ...

PINGTAN, China — China's largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan kicked off Thursday, in a show of force straddling vital international shipping ...

“China’s announced military exercises represent a clear escalation from the existing baseline of Chinese military activities around Taiwan and from the last Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995-1996,” said Amanda Hsiao, senior analyst for China at the International Crisis Group. Beijing has defended the drills as “necessary and just”, pinning the blame for the escalation on the United States and its allies. The Group of Seven industrialised nations has condemned the drills, saying in a statement there was “no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait”. “The Ministry of National Defence stresses that it will uphold the principle of preparing for war without seeking war, and with an attitude of not escalating conflict and causing disputes,” it said in a statement. It sparked a furious reaction from Beijing, which vowed “punishment” and announced military drills in the seas around Taiwan — some of the world’s busiest waterways. Pelosi was the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, and said her trip made it “unequivocally clear” that the United States would not abandon a democratic ally.

Chinese state TV said the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army had carried out “precision strikes” on the eastern parts of the strait.

The timing of the drills, after Pelosi left Taiwan, may signal Beijing’s desire to avoid direct confrontation with the United States. “We seek no escalation, but we don’t stand down when it comes to our security and sovereignty,” the defense ministry posted on Twitter. Three of the six exclusion areas encroach on the 12-nautical-mile littoral zone that Taiwan claims as its territorial waters. If we need to go to war, we go to war.” Hsiao Wen-ming, chairman of Donggang’s Fishermen’s Association in Pingtung near Taiwan’s southern coast, said he is worried about the safety of local fishers. Lee Chih-Hsiang, 38, who runs a hostel on the island, said his customers were mostly worried about whether the drills would affect their ability to go diving. China in the past has used times of spiking geopolitical tension to alter previously accepted norms of military behavior. In 2020, China denied the existence of the median line in the Taiwan Strait, after years of largely respecting the informal boundary that has helped prevent conflict in the 100 mile-wide waterway. Pelosi’s visit to Taipei this week infuriated Chinese leaders, who claimed the high-level delegation was a violation of China’s territorial rights and a deliberate provocation amid deteriorating U.S.-China relations. But the Chinese military drills, to run through Sunday, represent Beijing’s efforts to establish a new normal of encroachment on its rival. A day earlier, during Pelosi’s visit, 22 Chinese military aircraft breached the line, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry. Taiwan’s defense ministry said the PLA fired 11 Dongfeng ballistic missiles into the waters off northeastern and southwestern Taiwan on Thursday afternoon.

China said its armed forces have launched joint military exercises on an unprecedented scale in six areas ringing Taiwan on Thursday as Beijing seeks to ...

Combat exercises begin around island after Nancy Pelosi visit, in what Taiwan has said amounts to blockade.

“There is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan strait,” it said. In a statement it warned the situation could lead to “serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers”. I’m sure that ...the Taiwanese population will again become favourable of the reunification, and will become patriots again.” “We immediately fired flares to issue warnings and to drive them away,” Maj Gen Chang Zone-sung of the army’s Kinmen defence command told Reuters. “The national army will continue to strengthen its alert, and troops at all levels will conduct daily training.” Taiwan’s defence ministry has accused China of in effect mounting a blockade with the actions.

China fired multiple missiles toward waters near northeastern and southwestern Taiwan on Thursday, the island's Defense Ministry said, as Beijing makes good ...

China issued a map showing six zones around Taiwan that would be the site of drills in coming days. Earlier, the Eastern Theater Command said it had conducted long-range, live-fire training in the Taiwan Strait, state broadcaster CCTV reported, as part of planned military exercises around the island. This exercise is not that," he said. Flights will resume on Sunday. Later Thursday, images showed military helicopters flying past Pingtan island, one of Taiwan's closest points to mainland China. "In particular, a training area has been set up in the waters near Japan, and if China were to conduct live ammunition exercises in such an area, it could affect the security of Japan and its people," Matsuno said. But on Thursday, Taiwan's Maritime and Port Bureau said in a notice that China had added a seventh military exercise area for ships and aircraft to avoid "in the waters around eastern Taiwan." "We are closely monitoring enemy activities around the sea of Taiwan and that of outlying islands, and we will act appropriately," the ministry said in a statement. "The official announcement (of the blockade) refers to just a few days, which would make it hard to qualify it on practical terms to a blockade," said Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King's College in London. On Thursday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said its military was remaining in a "normal" but wary posture, and called the live-fire drills an "irrational act" that attempted to "change the status quo." Taiwan reported Chinese long-range rockets had fallen near its islands of Matsu, Wuqiu, Dongyin, which are in the Taiwan Strait, but located closer to the mainland than the main island of Taiwan. It later said a total of 11 Dongfeng (DF) missiles were fired to the waters north, south and east of the island between 1:56 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time (from 1:56 a.m. ET to 4 a.m. ET) on Thursday. The Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command said in a statement that multiple missiles had been fired into the sea off the eastern part of Taiwan. It said all the missiles hit their target accurately.

China fired ballistic missiles and deployed fighter jets and warships on Thursday as it began its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan, ...

They continue to harass us." "China's announced military exercises represent a clear escalation from the existing baseline of Chinese military activities around Taiwan and from the last Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995-1996," said Amanda Hsiao, senior analyst for China at the International Crisis Group. On the mainland, at what is said to be China's closest point to Taiwan, AFP saw a batch of five military helicopters flying at a relatively low altitude near a popular tourist spot. The aim was to test the precision of the missiles and their ability to deny an enemy access to or control of an area, Eastern Theater Command spokesman Senior Colonel Shi Yi said in a statement. In retaliation, China launched a series of exercises in multiple zones around Taiwan, straddling some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and at some points just 12 miles from the island's shore. The drills involved a "conventional missile firepower assault" in waters to the east of Taiwan, the Chinese military said.

Shippers rerouted vessels as China began its most provocative military drills in decades around Taiwan, with at least one owner barring ships from ...

TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - China launched unprecedented live-fire military drills in six areas that ring Taiwan on Thursday, a day after a visit by U.S. ...

Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island's future. I think we should thank Comrade Pelosi." There were no signs of significant protests or calls to boycott U.S. products. They continue to harass us," the Taiwanese source said. read more read more

China's live-fire military drills around Taiwan are threatening to disrupt trade and commercial travel in East Asia, forcing vessels to reroute away from ...

The Port of Kaohsiung, located on the southwestern coastline, is the largest harbor in Taiwan and the 15th largest in the world, according to the World Shipping Council. Taiwan has seven major ports. Taiwan has said the military exercises are tantamount to a "maritime and aerial blockade" and have "violated Taiwan's territorial waters and its contiguous zone."