TAIPEI, Aug 4 (Reuters) – China on Thursday deployed a large number of aircraft and fired missiles near Taiwan in what is its largest-ever military exercise in the Taiwan Straits, a day after the visit. on the island of the Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to show her solidarity with Taipei.
According to Chinese state television, the Chinese military confirmed that it had fired several conventional missiles off the coast of Taiwan as part of exercises scheduled in six areas near the island, from Thursday to Sunday noon (0400 GMT).
More than 100 planes, including fighters and bombers, were mobilized, as well as more than ten warships, said CCTV.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it sent fighter jets to ward off 22 Chinese fighter jets that entered the island’s air defense zone.
Japan for its part denounced the arrival of five missiles in its exclusive economic zone.
In Beijing, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Defense declared that “the collusion between the United States and Taiwan and their provocation will only push Taiwan towards the abyss of the disaster, with a catastrophe for the Taiwanese compatriots”.
Reacting to the Chinese military exercises, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said that the island would not provoke any conflict but would firmly defend its sovereignty and national security, while Beijing did not rule out using force to bring back its lay in what he considers a renegade province.
“Taiwan will never be stunned by challenges,” she said in a video message to the people of the island. “We are calm and not impetuous, rational and not provocative, but we will also be firm and we will not make ourselves small.”
China had repeatedly warned of the consequences of a possible visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, describing it as a provocation capable of fueling tensions and harming regional security.
Even before officially launching its maneuvers, the Chinese army had sent warships and planes to the Taiwan Strait several times Thursday morning, according to a Taiwanese source familiar with the matter.
“IRRATIONAL”
Subsequently, Chinese and Taiwanese warships faced each other while Taipei also deployed fighter jets and missile systems to track Chinese military activities.
Despite fears that Beijing might decide to fire a missile at the island, life in Taiwan continued as normal.
“When China says it wants to annex Taiwan by force, that’s nothing new,” said 38-year-old real estate agent Chen Ming-cheng. “From my point of view, they are trying to divert public anger, the anger of their own people, against Taiwan.”
Taipei denounced cyberattacks targeting the websites of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taiwanese presidency, warning of a “psychological war” to come.
The visit of Nancy Pelosi, the first “speaker” of the House and the highest American official to visit Taiwan for 25 years, is a “maniacal, irresponsible and highly irrational” act, declared the head of Chinese diplomacy, quoted by public television.
Speaking in Cambodia during a meeting of foreign ministers of Southeast Asian countries, Wang Yi added that China had tried to avert a crisis through diplomatic means but would not tolerate never attacks against its major interests.
Nancy Pelosi praised local democracy during her visit to Taiwan and expressed American solidarity with the island, with which the United States has no official diplomatic relations but of which it is the main supplier of weapons.
“Our delegation came to Taiwan to show unequivocally that we will not abandon Taiwan,” said Nancy Pelosi, accompanied on the island by six members of the American Congress, during her meeting with Tsai Ing-wen, whom China considers eager to gain independence for Taiwan – a red line for Beijing.
In protest, China summoned the US ambassador to Beijing and suspended agricultural imports from Taiwan.
The United States and the foreign ministers of the G7 countries have warned China not to use Nancy Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to launch military action against Taiwan.
(Reporting Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu, with Tony Munroe, Ryan Woo and Martin Quin Pollard in Beijing, Fabian Hamacher in Taipei; French version Jean Terzian, editing by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)