Chinese anger and fear balances over Pelosi visit to Taiwan: ‘We’re not backing down’ despite gun threat

Taiwan will “not back down” from the threat of Chinese weapons, the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen said today, as Beijing announced a series of live-fire military training courses on its outskirts amid of the visit made by the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

“Despite deliberately increased military threats, Taiwan will not back down. We will continue to defend democracy,” Ms. Tsai said during an event in Taipei with Ms. Pelosi in attendance.

Earlier, Taiwan’s defense ministry announced that China’s high schools were threatening ports and key urban areas on the island, promising that defenses would be “strengthened” and that there would be a “strong” response.

The high schools are “an attempt to threaten our major ports and urban centers and to unilaterally undermine peace and stability in the region,” the ministry argued.

The Chinese political leadership does not hide its anger at Ms. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwanwhich it considers part of its territory, destined to be “reunited” with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Real fire

In response, Beijing announced a series of live-fire naval and air force training courses around the island.

The high schools will include launching “long-range live fire” into the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the mainland.

In some locations, Chinese operations will reach 20 kilometers from Taiwan’s coastline, based on coordinates announced by the People’s Liberation Army.

Faced with the risk of war breaking out from a miscalculation, Taiwanese government officials tried to appear decisive while keeping the population cool.

“The Ministry of Defense is closely monitoring the situation, has strengthened its preparations and will react in an appropriate manner at the time it deems appropriate,” he said.

The military will “remain in place and protect national security. We ask the public to remain calm and support the armed forces.”

On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, the authorities announced that 21 Chinese military aircraft intruded into the air defense identification zone (or ADIZ), which is however much larger than Taiwan’s airspace.

On the other side of the strait, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced economic sanctions, including the suspension of sand exports to Taiwan. It is a key raw material for the manufacture of semiconductors, one of the main export products of the island, as reported by international agencies and relayed by the Athens News Agency.

For its part, Japan expressed its “concern” about Beijing’s “targeted military actions” in retaliation for its visit Nancy Pelosisome of which will unfold within the Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Tokyo has “expressed its concern” to Beijing given the “nature of the military activities” which will include “real fire”, explained Hirokazu Matsuno, a spokesman for the Japanese government.

Nancy Pelosi earlier said in a speech to Taiwan’s parliament that she went “peacefully” to the region as a “friend”.

“Egregious Violation”

“We come as friends to Taiwan, we come with peace to the region,” said Ms Pelosi, the most senior US official to visit the island in 25 years. He praised Taiwan for being “one of the freest countries in the world”.

The 82-year-old speaker of the House of Representatives, third in line to succeed President Joe Biden if required, had not announced her visit to Taiwan, but it had been the subject of intense scripting for several days and provoked a reaction from Beijing before it even took place.

Upon the arrival of Mrs. Pelosi in Taiwan, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced a “flagrant violation” of American commitments to China that “deal a serious blow to the peace and stability of the region.”

He called the US ambassador in Beijing, Nicholas Burns, and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Fang expressed his country’s “strong protest” to him, declaring that “Mrs. Pelosi’s initiative” to go to Taiwan “is extremely shocking and the consequences will be very serious,” according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

The island of 23 million inhabitants has been administratively independent since the end of the civil war (1949), but Beijing intends to reintegrate it into its territory and opposes any international legalization of its government.

“Don’t play with fire”

US officials frequently visit the island and Washington is Taiwan’s largest arms supplier. But Ms. Pelosi’s visit was seen as a major challenge by China.

Last week, during the telephone conversation between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president warned the US not to “play with fire”.

The previous Speaker of the House of Representatives to visit Taiwan was Newt Greenwich in 1997.

Officially, since 1979, Washington has recognized only one Chinese government, the one in Beijing, although it plays the role of Taipei’s protectorate.

The US has been practicing a policy of “strategic ambiguity”, avoiding making clear whether or not it will defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion, and the White House has been quick to reaffirm it after recent statements by Mr Biden that appeared to cast doubt on it. .

Russia, an ally of China, yesterday accused the US administration of “destabilizing the world” and called Mrs Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “pure provocation”.

North Korea, also an ally of China, expressed its “full support”, speaking of “reckless interference” in the “internal affairs” of other states by the US and of “political and military provocations” that are, according to it, ” root cause” of challenging “peace and security in the region,” a Pyongyang diplomatic spokesman told the official KCNA news agency.