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Taiwan’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Beijing is encircling the island with air and sea manoeuvres to prepare for an invasion and to disrupt the status quo in the Asia-Pacific region.
China began its largest-ever war games surrounding Taiwan last week in retaliation for a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking American official to visit the self-ruled island in decades.
“China has used drills and its military playbook to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan,” Joseph Wu said at a press briefing in Taipei.
“It conducts large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyber-attacks, a disinformation campaign, and economic coercion, in order to undermine public morale in Taiwan.”
Taipei’s top diplomat underlined Taiwan’s disapproval of the drills, which Beijing continued Monday after previously declaring they would conclude a day earlier, emphasising that they have hampered one of the world’s busiest maritime and air routes.
Wu’s press conference occurred after the Taiwanese military conducted its own live-fire simulation to simulate protecting the island from an invasion.
He described Beijing’s war manoeuvres as a “gross breach of Taiwan’s rights” and an attempt to seize control of the waters surrounding Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific area.
“China’s true objective is to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and throughout the region,” he explained.
Wu then expressed gratitude to Western allies for standing up to China.
“It also sends a strong message to the globe that democracy will not be intimidated by dictatorship,” he said.
