China has announced a new round of military maneuvers around Taiwan in response to a visit by a US congressional delegation, a move that bolsters Beijing’s efforts to isolate the island nation.
“This is a strong deterrent against the United States and Taiwan who continue to play political tricks and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” a Chinese military official said.
The announcement came after Democratic Senator Ed Markey and four members of the United States House of Representatives from both sides of the aisle landed in Taiwan on Sunday evening and met with Speaker Tsai Ing-wen on Monday morning.
China’s Defense Ministry said the visit flagrantly violated previous agreements as well as China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“[It] sends the wrong signal to separatist forces of ‘Taiwan independence’ and fully exposes the true face of the United States as a disruptor and destroyer of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the ministry said.
Lawmakers from the United States and other democracies often visit Taiwan, and Taipei also receives government officials from those countries less frequently.
Beijing’s fierce reaction to the latest US delegation has raised fears in Taiwan and elsewhere that Chinese leaders are trying to impose a new status quo under which foreign politicians and officials are dissuaded from engaging with the island’s government.
The People’s Liberation Army’s new “multi-service combat readiness patrols and exercises” come just five days after the end of week-long drills following the visit of the U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Taiwan. China said last week that the drills had succeeded in “clearing” the median line in the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial buffer zone, and that the PLA would now regularly patrol around the island.
Since then, PLA warplanes and warships have carried out daily maneuvers around Taiwan in numbers far exceeding those before Pelosi’s visit and in areas near Taiwan where they were not frequently active. before the current crisis.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says 96 Chinese military planes were active around the island between last Thursday and Sunday – after Beijing said its drills were over but would keep a ‘close eye’ on Taiwan and the United States and would carry out frequent patrols. in the zone.
“The fact that they are now announcing another exercise suggests that these numbers could increase further and their behavior could become more aggressive,” a senior Taiwanese government official said.
Kurt Campbell, White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, said Friday that China had used Pelosi’s visit as “a pretext to launch an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan and to try to change the status quo, putting in jeopardize peace and stability in Taiwan”. strait and in the wider region”.
Washington and Taipei handled Markey’s congressional delegation in a low-key manner. It wasn’t announced until the group was about to land in Taipei on Sunday evening. Unlike past practice, the start of the delegation’s meeting with Tsai was not televised or broadcast live.
The American Institute in Taiwan, Washington’s de facto embassy, said in a brief statement at the end of the visit that the group also met with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and defense of the Taiwanese legislature.
