[🇨🇳] China-Taiwan Feud

[Saif]

Taiwan president vows to resist annexation of island

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te vowed Thursday to ‘resist annexation’, as China exerts growing military and political pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.

www.newagebd.net

Taiwan president vows to resist annexation of island
Agence France-Presse . Taipei 10 October, 2024, 22:30

Lai Ching-te

Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te vowed Thursday to ‘resist annexation’, as China exerts growing military and political pressure on the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.

China has not ruled out using force to bring the democratic island under its control, which Lai and his government oppose.

‘I will also uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty,’ Lai said under grey skies during Taiwan’s National Day celebrations.

Beijing and Taipei were ‘not subordinate to each other’ and China had ‘no right to represent Taiwan’, Lai said.

Beijing has ramped up pressure on Taiwan to accept its territorial claims and relations have remained tense under Lai, who took office in May.

Lai has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a ‘separatist’.

China warned Thursday evening after the speech that Lai’s ‘provocations’ would result in ‘disaster’ for the people of Taiwan.

‘(Lai’s) provocations in seeking ‘independence’ are the root cause of trouble for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and will bring disaster to the people of Taiwan,’ said Chen Binhua, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, according to a social media post by the bureau.

Earlier in the day, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning condemned Lai’s speech, saying it ‘exposed his sinister intention to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait for political self-interest’.

A senior US administration official said Wednesday that Beijing may use the National Day celebrations ‘as a pretext’ for military exercises.

Speaking in front of an audience that included Tsai and pro-independence former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian, Lai said: ‘Our determination to defend our national sovereignty remains unchanged.’

‘Our efforts to maintain the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait remain unchanged,’ Lai said in front of the Presidential Office.

Foreign guests included three members of the US Congress, as well as representatives from some of the 12 states that still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, including Tuvalu prime minister Feleti Teo.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has remained Taiwan’s most important partner and its biggest arms supplier.

Washington opposes Taiwan independence and any attempt by China to forcibly take the island.

Thursday’s celebrations mark the 113th anniversary of the toppling of China’s Qing dynasty and the subsequent founding of the Republic of China.

The current dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war between the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s communist fighters.

The nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after they were defeated by the communists.

The Republic of China remains Taiwan’s official name.

While Taiwan has its own government, military and currency, it has never declared formal independence from mainland China.

Beijing has sought to erase Taipei from the international stage, blocking it from global forums and poaching its diplomatic allies.

Taiwan was on alert for Chinese military drills near the island on National Day after observing ‘some maritime deployments’, a senior security official said on Wednesday.

China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of large-scale war games in the past two years, deploying aircraft and ships to encircle the island.

‘Even though we have not seen significant military activity or exercises following previous 10/10 speeches, we are prepared that Beijing may choose to use this as a pretext this year,’ the senior US administration official told reporters.

‘We see no justification for a routine annual celebration to be used in this manner. Coercive actions like this against Taiwan and in the cross-Strait context, in our view, undermine cross-Strait stability.’

Taiwan’s defence ministry said Thursday that 27 Chinese military aircraft and nine navy vessels were detected around the island in the 24 hours to 6:00am.

Susan Hung, 60, said she worried that China’s military actions around Taiwan could ‘escalate beyond control’.

‘We have these fears in mind, so we hope for peace,’ Hung said, as she watched the celebrations.

In his speech, Lai expressed hope for ‘healthy and orderly dialogue and exchanges’ with China, and urged Beijing to use its influence to help end conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Beijing severed high-level communications with Taipei in 2016 when Tsai, also a member of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party, took power.​

 

[Saif]

China threatens Taiwan with more trade measures after denouncing president's speech

China is studying further trade measures against Taiwan, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday, two days after Beijing denounced a speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. The Chinese ministry said in a statement on its website that the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan's r

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

China threatens Taiwan with more trade measures after denouncing president's speech
REUTERS
Published :
Oct 12, 2024 18:14
Updated :
Oct 12, 2024 18:14

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te gives a keynote address on national day to mark the 113th birthday of the Republic of China, Taiwan's formal name, in Taipei, Taiwan October 10, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang

China is studying further trade measures against Taiwan, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday, two days after Beijing denounced a speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.

The Chinese ministry said in a statement on its website that the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan's ruling party, had not taken any practical measures to lift "trade restrictions" on China.

"At present, relevant (Chinese government) departments are studying further measures based on the conclusions of the investigation into trade barriers from Taiwan" against China, it added.

Taiwan's China policy making Mainland Affairs Council said it regretted and "strongly protested" the move.

"Blatant economic coercion will only arouse the resentment of the Taiwanese people and cause the distance between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to grow wider and wider," it said in a statement.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests Lai as a "separatist". Lai and his government reject Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

On Thursday at his keynote national day speech, Lai said the People's Republic of China had no right to represent Taiwan, but that the island was willing to work with Beijing to combat challenges like climate change, striking both a firm and conciliatory tone, drawing anger from China.

The Saturday announcement from China's commerce ministry could portend tariffs or other forms of economic pressure against the island in the near future.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office, which on Thursday said that Lai's speech promoted "separatist ideas" and incited confrontation, responded to the announcement by saying the fundamental reason behind the trade dispute was the "DPP authorities' stubborn adherence to the stance of 'Taiwan independence'".

"The political basis makes it difficult for cross-Strait trade disputes to be resolved through negotiation," it added.

In May, China reinstated tariffs on 134 items it imports from Taiwan, after Beijing's finance ministry said it would suspend concessions on the items under a trade deal because Taiwan had not reciprocated.

The Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between China and Taiwan was initially signed in 2010 and Taiwanese officials had previously told Reuters that China was likely to pressure Lai by ending some of the preferential trading terms within it.​

 

[Saif]

China ends day of military ‘warning’ drills around Taiwan

China ended a day of military drills around Taiwan on Monday in which it deployed fighter jets and warships in what Beijing said was a ‘stern warning’ to ‘separatist’ forces on the self-ruled island...

www.newagebd.net

China ends day of military ‘warning’ drills around Taiwan
Agence France-Presse . Taipei 14 October, 2024, 21:53

A Taiwanese Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet prepares to land at an air force base in Hsinchu on Monday. | AFP photo

China ended a day of military drills around Taiwan on Monday in which it deployed fighter jets and warships in what Beijing said was a ‘stern warning’ to ‘separatist’ forces on the self-ruled island.

Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Monday’s drills represented its fourth round of large-scale war games in just over two years.

The United States said China’s actions were ‘unwarranted’ and risk ‘escalation’ as it called on Beijing to act with restraint.

Beijing announced at around 6:00pm (1000 GMT), 13 hours after the drills started, that they had been ‘successfully completed’.

The drills, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, had ‘fully tested the integrated joint operation capabilities of its troops’, military spokesperson Captain Li Xi said in a statement.

‘Always on high alert, troops of the theater command keep strengthening combat readiness with arduous training, and will foil the ‘Taiwan Independence separatist attempts’,’ Li said.

President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a ‘separatist’.

Lai vowed on Monday to ‘protect democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security’, while the defence ministry said it had dispatched ‘appropriate forces’ in response to the drills.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said ‘Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are irreconcilable’.

Taiwan detected 125 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, around the island between 5:02am (2102 GMT) and 4:30pm, a defence ministry official said, describing it as a record for a single day. Seventeen warships were also spotted.

Outlying islands administered by Taipei had been put on ‘heightened alert’, Taiwan’s defence ministry said.

Beijing said its exercises served as a ‘stern warning to the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan Independence’ forces’.

The drills took place in ‘areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island’, Li said earlier.

Their aim was to focus ‘on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas’, Li said.

They also practised an ‘assault on maritime and ground targets’.

The previous large-scale drills held in May, three days after Lai’s inauguration, were called ‘Joint Sword-2024A’ and lasted two days.

China’s coast guard was also sent to conduct ‘inspections’, with a diagram released by the coast guard showing four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anti-clockwise direction around the island.

The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian — the closest area on the mainland to Taiwan — also said it conducted ‘comprehensive law enforcement patrols’ in waters near the Taipei-controlled Matsu islands.

Taiwan said four ‘formations’ of China coast guard ships had patrolled the island and briefly entered its restricted waters, but not its prohibited waters.

China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending warplanes and other military aircraft while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the island’s waters.

‘In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness,’ Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Monday.

Lai convened a high-level security meeting over the drills, said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, who described the exercises as ‘inconsistent with international law’.

He vowed in his National Day speech on Thursday to ‘resist annexation’ and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were ‘not subordinate to each other’.

Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.

Beijing said on Monday the drills were ‘a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity’.

Lieutenant Colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the drills could ‘switch from training to combat at any time’.

‘If Taiwan separatists provoke once, the PLA’s operation around the island will make their first move,’ Fu said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.

Taiwan’s coast guard said on Monday it had detained a Chinese man on one of its outlying islands after a possible ‘grey zone intrusion’, referring to tactics that fall short of a direct act of war.

In Taipei, people appeared to be largely unperturbed.

‘I won’t panic too much because they quite often have drills,’ 34-year-old engineer Benjamin Hsiao said.

‘It’s not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a bit numb.’

AFP journalists saw about five military jeeps mounted with machine guns on Monday afternoon patrolling around Taipei Songshan Airport, which is also a military air base.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since then.​

 

[Saif]

China's military encircles Taiwan in 'warning' drills

China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on Monday in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a "stern warning" to "separatist" forces on the self-ruled island.

en.prothomalo.com

China's military encircles Taiwan in 'warning' drills
AFP
Taipei
Published: 14 Oct 2024, 14: 27

Map of Taiwan showing China's "Joint Sword-2024B" military exercise areas, according to a map issued by the mainland's defense ministry AFP

China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on Monday in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a "stern warning" to "separatist" forces on the self-ruled island.

Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Monday's drills represent its fourth round of large-scale war games in just over two years.

The United States said China's actions were "unwarranted" and risk "escalation" as it called on Beijing to act with restraint.

President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan's sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a "separatist".

Lai vowed on Monday to "protect democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security", while the defence ministry said it dispatched "appropriate forces" in response to the drills.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning hit back, saying "Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are irreconcilable".

AFP journalists near the Hsinchu air force base, in the north of Taiwan, saw 12 fighter jets take off on Monday.

Outlying islands administered by Taipei were on "heightened alert" and "aircraft and ships will respond to enemy situations in accordance with the engagement rules", Taiwan's defence ministry said.

Beijing said its exercises served as a "stern warning to the separatist acts of 'Taiwan Independence' forces".

The drills, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, are testing troops' "joint operations capabilities" according to Captain Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command.

They are taking place in "areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan Island", he said.

The drills are "focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas", Li said.

They also practised an "assault on maritime and ground targets".

The Liaoning aircraft carrier group "with its troops of army, navy, air force and rocket force" was also involved, Li said.

The previous large-scale drills held in May, three days after Lai's inauguration, were called "Joint Sword-2024A" and lasted two days.

China coast guard 'inspections'

China's coast guard was also sent to conduct "inspections" around the island.

A diagram released by the coast guard showed four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in an anti-clockwise direction around the island.

The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian -- the closest area on the mainland to Taiwan -- also said it was conducting "comprehensive law enforcement patrols" in waters near the Taipei-controlled Matsu islands.

Taiwan said four "formations" of China coast guard ships were patrolling the island, but they had not entered its prohibited or restricted waters.
China has ramped up military activity around Taiwan in recent years, sending warplanes and other military aircraft while its ships maintain a near-constant presence around the island's waters.

"In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness," Taiwan's defence ministry said on Monday.

Lai convened a high-level security meeting over the drills, said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, who described the exercises as "inconsistent with international law".

In his National Day speech on Thursday, Lai vowed to "resist annexation" and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were "not subordinate to each other".
Lai's Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.

Beijing said on Monday the drills were "a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity".

'Feel a bit numb'

Lieutenant colonel Fu Zhengnan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a video shared by state media that the drills could "switch from training to combat at any time".

"If Taiwan separatists provoke once, the PLA's operation around the island will make their first move," Fu said, referring to China's People's Liberation Army.

Taiwan's coast guard said on Monday it had detained a Chinese man on one of its outlying islands after a possible "grey zone intrusion", referring to tactics that fall short of a direct act of war.

In Taipei, people appeared to be largely unperturbed.

"I won't panic too much because they quite often have drills," 34-year-old engineer Benjamin Hsiao told AFP.

"It's not the first time in recent years anyway, so I feel a bit numb."

AFP journalists on Monday afternoon saw about five military jeeps mounted with machine guns patrolling around Taipei Songshan Airport, which is also a military air base.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949.

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since then.​

 

[Saif]

China tested two missiles during war games: Taiwan

China test-fired two missiles during a day of military drills around Taiwan, a Taiwanese security official said, adding they were directed inland and not at the self-ruled island.

www.thedailystar.net

China tested two missiles during war games: Taiwan

China test-fired two missiles during a day of military drills around Taiwan, a Taiwanese security official said, adding they were directed inland and not at the self-ruled island.

Beijing deployed a record number of military aircraft as well as warships and coast guard vessels to encircle Taiwan on Monday, in the fourth round of large-scale drills in just over two years.

During the exercises, which lasted 13 hours, China test-fired two missiles "into the interior", the national security official told a briefing Wednesday on the condition of anonymity.

While the exercises were a "serious" threat, they did not mean that war was "imminent" or "inevitable", the official said.

Though "their ability to switch from exercises to war has been gradually strengthening, we still believe that war is not imminent and it is not inevitable", the official said.

After then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022, China unleashed massive military exercises that included sending missiles into the skies around Taiwan.

China's ruling Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan, but it claims the island as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce the use of force to take it.

Beijing has ramped up military pressure on the democratic island in recent years as it seeks to browbeat Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty.

China held war games three days after the inauguration of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in May, who Beijing calls a "separatist."

It held another round of drills on Monday after Lai vowed in his National Day speech last Thursday to "resist annexation" and insisted that China and Taiwan were not "not subordinate to each other".

The security official said an "important part" of China's drills on Monday was a blockade exercise against Taiwan.

"We can imagine how serious the threat was to Taiwan that day and how much pressure it put on Taiwan's military," the official said.

"If China actually blockades the Taiwan Strait or Taiwan's major ports, it would cause chaos in the international trade order."​