Taiwan condemns China’s ‘evil neighbor’ after missiles fired during military drills | World News
Taiwan’s prime minister has denounced China as an “evil neighbor” after the country’s military began live-fire drills around the island.
Su Tseng-chang told reporters in the capital Taipei that he believes China is arbitrarily destroying the Taiwan Strait – the most frequently used waterway in the world – with military exercises. and their actions are being condemned by other neighboring countries and the whole world.
Beijing acknowledged the live fire, but it was a “precision missile strike” as part of exercises by its navy, air force and other divisions in six areas around the island. .
Japan said it was forced to protest China after five rockets landed inside its Exclusive Economic Zone.
The drills were motivated by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island This week, and is intended to demonstrate China’s response to the self-governing island’s moves to cement de facto independence from Chinese rule.
Taiwan has put its military on alert and held civil defense exercises, while the US has plenty of naval assets in the region.
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Videos circulating on Chinese social media are said to show a Chinese military exercise in Pingtan, Fujian province.
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Analysis – Adam Boulton on the growing rhetoric stirred by Nancy Pelosi’s visit
In a speech in Tokyo, after a trip to Taiwan, Ms Pelosi said China would not isolate Taiwan by preventing US officials from going there and that America’s commitment to democracy in Taiwan “remains flawed”.
Her decision to become the most senior American politician to visit Taiwan since the 1990s caused outrage China – and has also drawn some criticism closer to home. US President Joe Biden has advised against her trip, while US allies in the Asia-Pacific region have not yet rushed to praise her 19-hour flight visit as part of a regional tour. .
While in Tokyo, Ms. Pelosi tackled the diplomatic storm caused by a visit – with five members of the US Congress – to Taipei.
Nancy Pelosi and congressional delegation attend a press conference in Tokyo
“We said from the beginning that our representation here is not about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region,” she said.
A screen in a shopping mall shows a news broadcast, introducing locations around Taiwan, where the People’s Liberation Army is conducting military exercises
Beijing has warned that the visit would weaken US-China relationsand the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it seriously violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In a statement released shortly after she arrived in Taipei, China’s foreign ministry said it had strongly opposed the US.
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A well-timed visit to Taiwan could lead the US and China to quietly enter the crisis
An island of 23 million people, 112 miles off the coast of China, Taiwan declares itself a democratic, independent country with its own leader, constitution, political system, and military.
But with territorial claims to the island dating back as far as 229 AD, the Communist Party in Beijing considers it a breakaway Chinese province that will eventually return under their control. – by force if necessary.
This is known as the One China principle – a diplomatic recognition that Beijing is the only legitimate ruling power in China.
Technically, the US subscribes to a version of that policy – the One China policy – and therefore does not recognize Taiwan as an independent country, in accordance with the United Nations. But it still maintains informal ties and supports the island’s commitment to democracy.
