BEIJING (National Times) – China is set Sunday to wrap up its largest-ever military exercises surrounding Taiwan after a controversial visit to the self-ruled island by US leader Nancy Pelosi.<\/p>\n
Beijing has raged at the trip by Pelosi — the second in the line of succession to the US presidency — ripping up a series of talks and cooperation agreements with Washington, most notably on climate change and defence cooperation.<\/p>\n
It has also deployed fighter jets, warships and ballistic missiles around Taiwan in what analysts have described as practising a blockade and ultimate invasion of the island.<\/p>\n
Those exercises are set to wrap up Sunday, though Beijing has announced fresh drills in the Yellow Sea — located between China and the Korean peninsula — to take place until August 15.<\/p>\n
Saturday saw China deploy “multiple batches” of planes and ships into the Taiwan Strait, Taipei authorities said, some of which crossed a demarcation line that divides the waters, which Beijing does not recognise.<\/p>\n
“They were judged to be conducting a simulation of an attack on Taiwan\u2019s main island,” Taipei\u2019s defence ministry said.<\/p>\n
In response, the democratic island\u2019s military mobilised air and land patrols and deployed land-based missile systems the ministry said.<\/p>\n
As of 5:00 pm local time (0900 GMT), Taiwan\u2019s army said “20 Communist planes and 14 ships were detected in the waters around Taiwan conducting joint air-sea exercises”.<\/p>\n
– \u2018A dangerous opponent\u2019 –<\/p>\n
In a bid to show how close China\u2019s forces have been getting to Taiwan\u2019s shores, Beijing\u2019s military released a video of an air force pilot filming the island\u2019s coastline and mountains from his cockpit.<\/p>\n
And the Eastern Command of the Chinese army shared a photo it said was taken of a warship patrolling seas near Taiwan with the island\u2019s shoreline visible in the background.<\/p>\n
The drills have also seen Beijing fire ballistic missiles over Taiwan\u2019s capital, according to Chinese state media.<\/p>\n
Taipei has remained defiant throughout China\u2019s sabre-rattling, insisting it will not be cowed by its “evil neighbour”.<\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s foreign ministry urged Beijing on Saturday to “immediately stop raising tensions and taking provocative actions to intimidate the Taiwanese people”.<\/p>\n
But experts have warned the drills reveal an increasingly emboldened Chinese military capable of carrying out a gruelling blockade of the self-ruled island as well as obstructing American forces from coming to its aid.<\/p>\n
“In some areas, the PLA might even surpass US capabilities,” Grant Newsham, a former US Navy officer, told AFP, referring to China\u2019s military by its official name.<\/p>\n
“If the battle is confined to the area right around Taiwan, today\u2019s Chinese navy is a dangerous opponent — and if the Americans and Japanese do not intervene for some reason, things would be difficult for Taiwan.”<\/p>\n
– \u2018Punishing the world\u2019 –<\/p>\n
The scale and intensity of China\u2019s drills — as well as Beijing\u2019s withdrawal from key talks on climate and defence — have triggered outrage in the United States and other democracies.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meeting with his Philippine counterpart on Saturday, said Washington was “determined to act responsibly” to avoid a major global crisis.<\/p>\n
China should not hold talks on issues of global concern such as climate change “hostage”, Blinken said, as it “doesn\u2019t punish the United States, it punishes the world”.<\/p>\n
The United Nations has also urged the two superpowers to continue to work together — for the world\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n
“For the secretary-general, there is no way to solve the most pressing problems of all the world without an effective dialogue and cooperation between the two countries,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING (National Times) – China is set Sunday to wrap up its largest-ever military exercises surrounding Taiwan after a controversial visit to the self-ruled island by US leader Nancy Pelosi. Beijing has raged at the trip by Pelosi — the second in the line of succession to the US presidency — ripping up a series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n