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21-08-2023
WASHINGTON: The United States has urged China to stop pressuring Taiwan after Beijing launched war games around the self-ruled island as a “stern warning” over Taiwanese Vice President William Lai’s recent stopovers in New York and San Francisco.
The statement came as Taiwan said on Sunday that some 25 Chinese air force planes had crossed the Taiwan Straits median line over the past 24 hours.
That included Su-30 and J-11 fighter jets, according to a map the ministry published, though there was no immediate sign China was continuing its exercises for a second day.
In a statement to the Reuters news agency, a spokesperson for the US Department of State said it would continue to monitor China’s exercises closely, and urged Beijing to “cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan”
Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war that ended with the ruling Communist Party in control of the mainland. Taiwan has never been part of the People’s Republic of China, but Beijing sees the democratically-governed island as a breakaway province to be taken by force if necessary.
While the US does not maintain official ties with Taiwan, Washington is Taipei’s biggest source of weapons, and its political and military support for the territory has been a constant source of friction in its relations with Beijing.
China has decried official contact between the US and Taiwan and launched its largest military drills around the island in recent years in August 2022, when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei. Beijing also held large-scale combat readiness drills in August in response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with current US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a transit through California.
Analysts said China’s drills on Saturday which Beijing said involved the coordination of vessels and planes and their ability to seize control of air and sea spaces were much more low-key than two rounds of war games in April and August. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
