U.S. President Joe Biden. File
| Photo Credit: AP

“U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday (September 29, 2024) approved $567 million in defence assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said, as China ramps up political and military pressure on the self-ruled island.

While the United States does not officially recognise Taiwan diplomatically, it is Taipei’s key partner and major provider of weapons — a point of consternation for Beijing which has repeatedly called on Washington to stop arming the island, which it claims is part of its territory.

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In a brief statement, the White House said Mr. Biden had delegated the Secretary of State “to direct the drawdown of up to $567 million in defence articles and services of the Department of Defence, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan.”

It did not give details of the package, which is nearly twice the size of the $345 million in defence support approved in July last year.

The United States in April this year approved billions in military aid for Taiwan in the face of an increasingly assertive China which has upped military and political pressure on the island in recent years.

Beijing has regularly expressed anger at international support for Taipei and accused Washington of meddling in its affairs. China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and maintains a near-daily presence of fighter jets, drones and warships around the island.

Beijing has said it will never renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has also ramped up rhetoric about “unification” being “inevitable”.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on June 26 that China had carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island, as Beijing said it would track down and punish “diehard” independence supporters wherever they are.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of President Lai Ching-te, whom it views as a “separatist”, and staged two days of war games after he took office last month.

Last week, China threatened to execute “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists in extreme cases, a further ramping up of tensions that drew condemnation from Lai and his government, as well as the United States.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said that starting at 7 a.m. (2300GMT) on June 26, it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighters, operating to the north, centre and south of Taiwan, carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” with Chinese warships.

Taiwan frequently reports such missions, part of a pattern of what it says is Chinese harassment that has escalated in the past four years. China’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the government had the legal right to protect the country’s territorial integrity, defending last week’s new guidelines to punish what Beijing views as separatism.

“National law enforcement and judicial organs will pursue all Taiwan independence ‘diehards’ who test the law to the end no matter where they are and severely punish them in accordance with the law,” Zhu Fenglian told reporters.

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Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan and it is not clear how China could seek to enforce any judgements outside its borders.

Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Ryan Woo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle)

This handout picture taken and released on May 14, 2024 by the Taiwanese coast guard shows a Chinese coast guard ship (background right) seen past a Taiwanese coast guard vessel (foreground) in the waters off Kinmen. “Five Chinese coast guard ships sailed through Taiwan’s “restricted waters” for three hours on May 14 before they were expelled,” Taiwanese coast guard said.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Taipei said on May 15 it had detected 45 Chinese military aircraft around Taiwan, the highest single-day number this year and coming less than a week before the self-ruled island inaugurates its new President who China regards as a “dangerous separatist”.

China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring it under Beijing’s control.

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It has warned that Lai Ching-te, the current Vice-President who will be sworn into Taiwan’s top post on May 20, would bring “war and decline” to the island, and tensions have soared since he won the January poll.

On Wednesday, Taipei’s Defence Ministry said it had detected 45 Chinese aircraft and six naval vessels operating around Taiwan during the 24-hour period leading up to 6 a.m. (2200 GMT).

“Twenty six of the aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” the Ministry said in a statement, referring to a line bisecting the 180-km (110-mile) waterway that separates Taiwan from China.

The Ministry added that it had “monitored the situation and responded accordingly”. On Tuesday evening, the Ministry said 23 Chinese aircraft — including fighter jets and drones — were detected around Taiwan during a two-hour period.

Beijing has in recent years upped military pressure on Taiwan, maintaining a near-daily presence of warplanes, drones and naval vessels around the island.

The largest ever seen around Taiwan was last September, when Beijing sent in 103 warplanes and aircraft — 40 of which crossed the median line. Experts say these are “grey zone tactics”, which stop short of outright acts of war but serve to exhaust Taipei’s military.

Besides deploying a military show of force, China has also sent in coast guard ships and other official fishery vessels around Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen since February. The most recent sighting was on Tuesday, when five Chinese coast guard ships sailed through Kinmen’s “restricted waters” for three hours before leaving, Taiwan’s coast guard said.

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Tuesday’s sighting was the fifth formation seen in May, which the Taiwanese coast guard said “seriously affect navigation safety and undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.

“We urge the Chinese side to exercise self-restraint and immediately cease this irrational behaviour,” it said. Mr. Lai, like outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen, rejects Beijing’s claim over Taiwan.

China has condemned him and his deputy Hsiao Bi-khim — who was Taiwan’s former representative to the United States — as an “independence duo”.