The skies and waters around Taiwan have become a focal point as Beijing ramps up tensions with Taiwan and neighbouring Japan, which lodged a formal protest with China after five projectiles landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
China pressed ahead with military drills near Taiwan and flew drones close to Japan on Friday, escalating tensions in the strait that have threatened to boil over since Taipei welcomed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a historic visit, CNN reports.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said Chinese warships and aircraft continued drills in waters around the island, adding that Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces crossed the median line, the halfway point between the island and mainland China in a move Taiwan called a “highly provocative act.”
Until now, the line had been an informal but respected border between Beijing and Taipei. Taiwan’s military responded with radio warnings, and put air patrol forces, naval ships and shore-based missile systems on alert.
Two Chinese drones also flew around Okinawa prefecture in Japan on Thursday, prompting the country’s Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets in response, according to a statement from Tokyo’s Ministry of Defense on Friday.
In Total, 49 planes entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ). The Taiwan ministry had previously suggested that 68 aircraft flew into the area but later clarified that 19 operated west of the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait.
The moves come as China doubles down on its rhetoric, blaming the US for spiking tensions and forcing it into a response. Beijing announced sanctions against Pelosi and her immediate family and said it would suspend cooperation with Washington on several issues, including fighting climate change, on Friday.
Taiwan’s Premier Su Tseng-chang said the island represented “freedom and democracy” and that “the evil neighbour next door flexed its muscles on our doorstep and arbitrarily sabotaged (one of) the busiest waterways in the world with military exercises.”
China has previously fired missiles into waters surrounding Taiwan — a democratic island of 24 million that the Chinese Communist Party regards as its territory, despite having never controlled it — most notably during the Taiwan Strait Crisis in the 1990s.
The missiles were among several launched by Beijing on Thursday, some of which flew over Taiwan as Pelosi made her way to Tokyo, where she met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday.
Written by Adekunle Biodun