China sent warships to the waters around Taiwan on Thursday, after deploying an aircraft carrier and pledging a “resolute” response to the meeting between the autonomous island’s leader and the speaker of the US House of Representatives. in California , has announced the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense.
Despite repeated threats from Beijing, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, from a party that traditionally campaigns for the island’s independence, an absolute red line for China, met near Los Angeles on Wednesday with the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Hours later, Beijing deployed an aircraft carrier near Taiwan.
Three additional warships were detected at 6 a.m. Thursday in the waters between mainland China and the island, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said. An anti-submarine helicopter also passed through Taiwan’s air defense zone, according to the ministry. China has also deployed coast guard ships for exceptional patrols that Taipei has protested against.
The communist regime considers the self-managed island for more than 70 years as one of its provinces to retake, favoring “peaceful reunification”, but without excluding the use of force. In the name of its “one China” principle, no country is supposed to maintain official ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time.
In August, Beijing conducted unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan after then-Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, visited the island. The response to this meeting is far from what happened with number three in the US government at the time, but it puts Taipei on high alert.
The Taiwanese defense minister considered the moment chosen by Beijing to deploy the Shandong, one of the two Chinese aircraft carriers, “sensitive”. However, he did not observe any maneuvers around the ship. “When an aircraft carrier goes out, there are usually aircraft takeoffs and landings,†Chiu Kuo-cheng said, adding that he “didn’t see any takeoffs or landings†at this stage. “We continue to monitor,” he warned the press.
Asked about the possibility that this deployment is a prelude to Chinese military exercises, Chiu replied: “We do not exclude this possibility.”
In the United States, President Tsai, who was in transit after a tour of Latin America, praised the United States’ “unwavering support” for her island and said Taiwanese are neither “isolated” nor “alone.”
Only 13 states officially recognize Taiwan, including Belize and Guatemala, Latin American countries that Tsai has visited in recent days to consolidate relations with his few official allies, after a first stop in New York.
Hours later, China pledged “resolute and effective measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity” and further urged Washington to “stop following a wrong and dangerous path.”
This statement comes as French President Emmanuel Macron is on a state visit to Beijing, where he will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Thursday.
In this tense context, the Republican McCarthy emphasized that the relationship between Taipei and Washington was “stronger” than ever “in (his) life” and called for “continuing arms sales to Taiwan”, the “best way”, according to him, to prevent a Chinese invasion of the island. “It is an essential lesson that we learned from Ukraine, that the idea of ​​simple sanctions in the future will not stop anyone,” he insisted to the press.
