Lawmakers across party lines yesterday issued a joint statement condemning and protesting China’s large-scale military exercises around Taiwan.
China launched three days of exercises on Saturday following President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) meeting with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California on Wednesday last week.
“Beijing used President Tsai’s visit to our allies and stopovers in the US as an excuse to launch large-scale exercises around Taiwan, changing the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and escalating the tension in the region. It has also severely disrupted the international order,” lawmakers said.
Photo: CNA
“On behalf of the 23 million people in Taiwan, the Legislative Yuan solemnly condemns and protests China for such a move. We ask Beijing to immediately stop its military threat against Taiwan,” they added.
The statement was signed by the leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Taiwan People’s Party and the New Power Party caucuses.
“It has been a diplomatic practice over the years for the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to visit our allies and transit through the US. Collectively, President Tsai and former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were on diplomatic missions 51 times. Such practices did not change because of political turnover and is widely supported by the international community,” the statement said.
Photo courtesy of Presidential Office
However, Beijing has repeatedly hurt the feelings of Taiwanese by using military means to prevent its presidents from engaging in diplomatic missions, it said.
The action not only threatens peace and security in the region, but also contravenes the UN Charter, it said.
“The Republic of China is a sovereign and independent nation, which has been the status quo and the fact over the years. Beijing has no right to intervene in normal interactions between Taiwanese and people in other countries... Neither can it change the strong will of Taiwanese to travel the world,” it said. “We want to thank our international allies for being concerned about the peace across the Taiwan Strait and supporting Taiwan’s bid to enter the international community... We also call for a collective condemnation from the international community on Beijing’s barbaric acts.”
Tsai said in a video message that China has used her international visits as a reason to launch military exercises, leading to instability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region.
Beijing was not acting responsibly as a major country in the region, she said.
She thanked service members and Coast Guard Administration and other national security personnel for protecting the country and warned about the dissemination of misinformation by people who intend to mislead the public or are not familiar with how the national security system works.
“I want to highlight that the military and national security team worked closely together to protect the country from China’s military actions and cognitive warfare,” Tsai said. “All leaders in the chain of command can instantly communicate with one another through videoconferencing. Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) regularly briefed me about the status and was authorized to respond based on his military expertise.”
“Our No. 1 task at this crucial time is that the military and civilians stand united to preserve and protect a democratic Taiwan and that they not be misguided by misinformation,” she said.
The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 14 Chinese military aircraft entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone yesterday, with some of the planes also crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
The aircraft were among 26 spotted between 6am and 11am by Taiwan’s armed forces, which also reported the presence of nine Chinese naval vessels.
The Chinese military planes included Chengdu J-10s, Chengdu J-16s and Sukhoi SU-30 fighters, as well as Shaanxi KJ-200 airborne early warning and control aircraft, the defense ministry said.
It scrambled planes to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issued radio warnings, mobilized combat air and naval patrols, and deployed defensive missile systems, it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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