Taipei/Beijing:
Taiwan’s defence ministry warned China of powerful countermeasures on Wednesday if its forces got as well close to the island, as Beijing defended its incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone as “just” moves to defend peace and stability.
Military tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its personal territory, are at their worst in more than 40 years, Taiwan’s defence minister mentioned last week, adding China will be capable of mounting a “full scale” invasion by 2025.
He was speaking immediately after China mounted 4 straight days of mass air force incursions into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone that started Oct. 1, aspect of a pattern of what Taipei views as stepped up military harassment by Beijing.
No shots have been fired and China’s aircraft have stayed nicely away from Taiwan’s airspace, concentrating their activities in the southwestern corner of Taiwan’s air defence zone.
In a report to parliament, Taiwan’s defence ministry mentioned their forces will adhere to the principle of “the closer they are to the island, the stronger the countermeasures”, even though it gave no information.
The ministry expressed concern once more of China’s increasing prowess, with new aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines and amphibious assault ships coming into service.
China’s capabilities in denying access and blockading the Taiwan Strait “are becoming more and more complete, which will pose serious challenges and threats to our defence operations”, it added.
China blames Taiwan, and its most significant international backer the United States, for the tensions, a point Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, made once more in Beijing, pointing the finger at Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP).
Chinese drills are aimed at “collusion” with foreign forces – a veiled reference to U.S. help for Taiwan – and separatist activities, guarding the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as nicely as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, he added.
“They are absolutely just actions,” Ma mentioned.
“The DPP authorities’ hyping of the so-called ‘military threat’ of the mainland is to completely invert right and wrong, and a bogus accusation,” he added.
“If the DPP authorities obstinately persist in going about things the wrong way, and do not know how to draw back from the edge, it will only push Taiwan into a more dangerous situation.”
Taiwan says it is an independent nation known as the Republic of China, its formal name, and will defend its freedom and democracy.
Despite Ma’s comments, each Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen made reasonably conciliatory speeches at the weekend, even as Xi vowed to bring Taiwan beneath its handle and Tsai mentioned they would not be forced to bow to China.
Xi did not mention resorting to force more than Taiwan, when Tsai reiterated a wish for peace and dialogue with China.
Tsai, speaking at a frequent party meeting on Wednesday, reiterated that the government has in no way “slacked off” when presented with China’s military threats but has also in no way “advanced rashly”.
“I also want to repeat that we will never succumb to pressure,” she added.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)