The scale of China’s exercises has sparked outrage in the United States and other democracies.
Beijing:
China’s largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan ended on Sunday following last week’s controversial visit to the self-ruled island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .
Beijing was angered by a trip by Pelosi – the second in line to succeed the US president – to disrupt a series of negotiations and cooperation agreements with Washington, most notably on climate change and international affairs. room.
It has also deployed fighter jets, warships and ballistic missiles around Taiwan in what analysts describe as an operation to blockade and invade the island.
The drills are expected to end on Sunday, although Beijing has announced new drills in the Yellow Sea – which lies between China and the Korean peninsula – will run until May 15. 8.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport said six of the seven “temporary danger zones” China warned airlines would stop taking effect from Sunday afternoon, signaling the drills will be shortened.
It said the seventh zone, in waters east of Taiwan, would be in effect until 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) local time on Monday.
“Related flights and trips may gradually resume,” the ministry said in a statement.
Taipei said some routes are still affected in the seventh area, and authorities will continue to monitor train movements there.
Earlier, on Sunday, Beijing conducted “realistic joint exercises in the waters and airspace around the island of Taiwan as planned”, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Command said.
The exercises focused on “testing joint firepower on the ground and long-range air strike capability,” it added.
Taipei’s Ministry of National Defense also confirmed that China has dispatched “planes, ships and drones” around the Taiwan Strait, “simulating attacks on Taiwan’s main island and on ships in the Taiwan Strait.” our waters”.
Beijing also sends drones to remote islands of Taiwan.
In response, the democracy island said it had mobilized a “joint intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance system to closely monitor the enemy situation” as well as sending planes and ships.
Su Tseng-chang, Taiwan’s prime minister, said China is “using barbaric military action” to disturb the peace in the Taiwan Strait.
“We urge the Chinese government not to use military force, flaunt muscle everywhere, and jeopardize the peace of the region,” he told reporters on Sunday.
China’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the expected conclusion of Sunday’s exercise.
‘A dangerous opponent’
To show how close Chinese forces have come to the coast of Taiwan, Beijing’s military has released a video showing an air force pilot capturing the island’s coastline and mountains from the cockpit. his.
And the Chinese military’s Eastern Command shared a photo it says shows a warship patrolling the waters near Taiwan with the island’s coastline visible in the background.
The drills also saw Beijing fire ballistic missiles over Taiwan’s capital, according to Chinese state media.
Taipei remained defiant throughout China’s war, insisting that it would not be subdued by its “evil neighbor”.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Saturday called on Beijing to “immediately stop raising tensions and taking provocative actions to intimidate the Taiwanese people”.
However, experts warn the exercise shows an increasingly mobile Chinese military that is capable of carrying out a fierce blockade of the self-ruled island as well as hindering the arrival of US forces. aid.
“In some areas, the PLA may even surpass the capabilities of the US,” Grant Newsham, a research fellow at the Japan Strategic Studies Forum and a former US Navy officer, told AFP. Chinese army by official name.
“If the battle were confined to the area just around Taiwan, the Chinese navy today is a dangerous adversary – and if the Americans and Japanese do not intervene for some reason, things will be difficult. towel for Taiwan.”
‘Punish the world’
The scale and intensity of China’s exercises – as well as Beijing’s withdrawal from key climate and defense talks – has sparked outrage in the United States and other democracies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a meeting with his Philippine counterpart on Saturday, said Washington was “determined to act responsibly” to avoid a major global crisis.
Blinken said China should not hold talks on global issues of concern such as climate change “hostages”, because it “does not punish the US but punish the world”.
The United Nations has also urged the two superpowers to continue working together.
“For the Secretary-General, there is no way to solve the world’s most pressing problems without an effective dialogue and cooperation between the two countries,” said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
