Taipei: As Speaker of US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi wound up her Taipei visit today, China escalated its intimidatory activity by sending 27 fighter jets to areas surrounding Taiwan, which vowed to defend its national sovereignty.
The PLA’s fighter activity took place a day ahead of the ‘live fire military drills’ planned by China close to Taiwan.
China has said it would hold the military exercises, from tomorrow till August 7, in six areas in waters around Taiwan, one of which is less than 20 kilometres off the coast of southern Taiwan.
Taiwan is a self-ruled island over which China lays territorial claims.
Displaying American support for Taiwan, Pelosi came here last night despite intense warnings and threats from China.
The 82-year-old Democrat, the first sitting US House Speaker to visit Taiwan since 1997, met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, lawmakers and human rights activists before winding up her trip tonight.
China has expressed anger over the visit and warned of “grave consequences”.
Taiwan slammed China over its plans to hold the military exercises, saying the action is “irrational” and would “jeopardize the safety of international waterways, challenge international order, break the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and endanger regional security.”
The planned military exercises are also an infringement of Taiwan’s sovereignty and a violation of international laws, as the designated areas either extend to Taiwan’s territorial waters or are very close to them, said spokesman of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence Sun Li-fang at a press conference.
Sun said Taiwan’s military is always prepared for fight even though it would never seek to start a war or escalate any conflict.
Asserting that Taiwan’s military would take action to stop any Chinese aggressive action, he said the island nation can and will defend its territorial sovereignty.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) termed China’s actions as “provocative” and said these have disrupted international order and will destroy peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the wider region.
In a statement, the ministry said Republic of China (Taiwan) is an independent sovereign state, which is not affiliated to the People’s Republic of China.
“This is an internationally recognized fact, and it is the status quo that has long been maintained on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
