China’s armed forces today began large-scale drills in areas around Taiwan, state broadcaster CCTV reported. It’s a development that is causing global concern, with Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, warning that China’s choice does not show “responsibility” as the situation could escalate.
It is noted that these are the largest Chinese air and naval exercises ever staged around the islandwhich has its own government but Beijing considers it a breakaway province, destined to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
“High schools are starting,” CCTV reported via Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. The exercises are being conducted in retaliation for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this weekwhich Beijing took as a grave insult and provocation.
“When a military conducts a series of activities, including (…) missile tests and live-fire high schools (…) the potential for an incident is real,” Mr. Sullivan said during an interview with NPR public radio. “We believe that what the China is not responsible,” the White House national security adviser continued.
Mr Sullivan called on China to “act in a responsible manner and avoid any kind of escalation that could lead to miscalculation in the airwaves or the seas”.
Asserting that she went “peacefully” to the region as a “friend”, the 82-year-old speaker of the House of Representatives also declared that the US would not abandon Taiwan, which has its own democratically elected government and lives under the constant threat of invasion by the Chinese army.
Today’s gymnasiums will be held in a series of sectors around the Taiwan -in some cases at a distance of only 20 kilometers from its coasts- and will last until noon on Sunday.
Taiwan authorities announced yesterday that another 27 Chinese military aircraft, compared to 21 the previous day, had intruded into the air defense identification zone (or ADIZ, from the acronym of the term air defense identification zone in English), which is however much wider than the airspace of the island.
The situation in Taiwan may cause ‘open conflicts’
The situation in Taiwan could lead to “open conflict”, foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) warned today. who met in Phnom Penh, expressing “concern” about large-scale military high schools.
“ASEAN is concerned about international and regional instability, especially the recent developments in the region (…) which may lead to miscalculations, serious conflict, open conflicts with unpredictable consequences for the major powers,” the heads of diplomacy stressed of the Association in the joint announcement they made public.
Cambodia, the country that currently holds the rotating presidency of ASEAN, called on all parties to opt for a de-escalation of tensions.
Source: News Beast
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