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.

China warns of Taiwan ‘war’ as military drills encircle island

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)

TAIPEI:

Democracy is not a crime and autocracy is the real “evil”, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Monday after China threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of Lai, who took office last month, saying he is a “separatist”, and staged war games shortly after his inauguration.

On Friday, China ramped up its pressure on Taiwan by issuing new legal guidelines to punish those it says support the island’s formal independence, though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.

Asked about China’s move at a news conference at the presidential office in Taipei, Lai first reiterated his sympathy for recent flooding in southern China before responding.

“I want to stress: democracy is not a crime; it’s autocracy that is the real evil. China has absolutely no right to sanction Taiwan’s people just because of the positions they hold. What’s more, China has no right to go after Taiwan people’s rights across borders,” he said.

According to China, anyone who does not uphold “reunification” is therefore a Taiwan independence supporter, Lai added.

“I also want to call on China to face up to the existence of the Republic of China and have exchanges and dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected, legitimate government,” he said, using Taiwan’s formal name. “If this is not done, relations between Taiwan and China will only become more and more estranged.”

Taiwan said that since Thursday, there has been a sharp increase in Chinese military flights as Beijing carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island.

Between Thursday and Sunday, Taiwan says it detected 115 Chinese military aircraft operating nearby, getting as close at 31 nautical miles (57 km) from the southern tip of the island.

Taiwan has said that for the past four years, China has carried out regular military activity around the island as part of a “grey zone” pressure campaign.

Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang war games next month will aim to mimic actual combat as closely as possible given a rapidly rising “enemy threat” from China, a senior official said.

Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. He has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed.

China says any move by Taiwan to declare formal independence would be grounds to attack the island.

The government in Taipei says Taiwan is already an independent country, the Republic of China, and that it does not plan to change that. The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s Communists.

Lai also faces domestic challenges, as his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in parliament in the same election in January that brought him to power.

Speaking at the same news conference, Lai said he would ask the constitutional court to stay a package of contested parliament reforms the opposition has passed and consider whether they comply with the constitution.

The opposition says the reforms, which among other things criminalise contempt of parliament by government officials, are needed to bring more accountability, but the DPP says they were forced through without proper discussion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ground staff members transport missiles near a Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft at Hsinchu Air Base, in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Taiwan scrambled jets and put missile, naval and land units on alert on May 23 over Chinese military exercises being conducted around the self-governing island democracy where a new President took office this week.

China’s military said its two-day exercises around Taiwan were punishment for separatist forces seeking independence. Beijing claims the island is part of China’s national territory and the People’s Liberation Army sends navy ships and warplanes into the Taiwan Strait and other areas around the island almost daily to wear down Taiwan’s defences and seek to intimidate its people, who firmly back their de facto independence.

China’s “irrational provocation has jeopardised regional peace and stability,” the island’s Defence Ministry said. It said Taiwan will seek no conflicts but “will not shy away from one.

“This pretext for conducting military exercises not only does not contribute to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, but also shows its hegemonic nature at heart,” the Ministry’s statement said.

In his inauguration address on Monday, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te called for Beijing to stop its military intimidation and pledged to “neither yield nor provoke” the mainland Communist Party leadership.

Lai has said he seeks dialogue with Beijing while maintaining Taiwan’s current status and avoiding conflicts that could draw in the island’s chief ally the U.S. and other regional partners such as Japan and Australia.

“The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said the land, navy and air exercises around Taiwan are meant to test the navy and air capabilities of the PLA units, as well as their joint strike abilities to hit targets and win control of the battlefield,” the command said on its official Weibo account.

“This is also a powerful punishment for the separatist forces seeking independence’ and a serious warning to external forces for interference and provocation,” the statement said.

The PLA also released a map of the intended exercise area, which surrounds Taiwan’s main island at five different points, as well as places such as Matsu and Kinmen, outlying islands that are closer to the Chinese mainland than Taiwan.

While China has termed the exercises as punishment for Taiwan’s election result, the Democratic Progressive Party has now run the island’s government for more than a decade, although the pro-China Nationalist Party took a one-seat majority in the Parliament.

Speaking in Australia, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka, the deputy commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, called on Asia-Pacific nations to condemn the Chinese military exercises.

“There’s no surprise whenever there’s an action that highlights Taiwan in the international sphere the Chinese feel compelled to make some kind of form of statement,” Mr. Sklenka told the National Press Club of Australia in the capital Canberra, in a reference to Monday’s Presidential inauguration.

“Just because we expect that behavior doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t condemn it, and we need to condemn it publicly. And it needs to come from us, but it also needs to come, I believe, from nations in the region. It’s one thing when the United States condemns the Chinese, but it has a far more powerful effect, I believe, when it comes from nations within this region,” Mr. Sklenka added.

Japan’s top envoy weighed in while visiting the U.S., saying Japan and Taiwan share values and principles, including freedom, democracy, basic rights and rule of law.

“(Taiwan) is our extremely important partner that we have close economic relations and exchanges of people, and is our precious friend,” Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters in Washington, where she held talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

She said the two Ministers discussed Taiwan and the importance of the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s most important waterways for shipping, remaining peaceful.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te (C) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (R) wave alongside outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen (L) during the inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on May 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan’s new President on May 20, facing an angry and deeply suspicious China that believes he is a “separatist”, and a fractious parliament with an Opposition champing at the bit to challenge him.

Mr. Lai was sworn in at the Japanese-colonial-era presidential office in central Taipei, taking over from Tsai Ing-wen, having served as her Vice President for the past four years.

Mr. Lai will express goodwill towards China in his inauguration speech on May 20 morning, and call for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to pursue peace, according to a senior official briefed on the matter.

Beijing views proudly democratic Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Mr. Lai has offered talks, which have been rebuffed, and has been said that only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Taiwan has faced ongoing pressure from China, including regular air force and navy activities close to the island, since January’s election victory by Mr. Lai, who is 64 and widely known by his English name, William.

In attendance at the ceremony are former U.S. officials dispatched by President Joe Biden, lawmakers from countries including Japan, Germany and Canada, and leaders from some of the 12 countries that still maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, such as Paraguay President Santiago Pena.

Last week, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Mr. Lai, who it called the “Taiwan region’s new leader” had to make a clear choice between peaceful development or confrontation.

His domestic challenges loom large too, given his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its parliamentary majority in the January election.

On May 17, lawmakers punched, shoved and screamed at each other in a bitter dispute over parliamentary reforms the opposition was pushing. There could be more fighting on May 21 when lawmakers resume their discussions.

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.

Also read | Preventing a China-Taiwan conflict

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.

Taiwan, China can resolve differences, says former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou after meeting Xi Jinping

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”.

Taipei:

Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple Inc supplier Foxconn, said on Monday he was entering the race to be Taiwan’s next president as an independent candidate.

Gou stepped down as Foxconn chief in 2019 and made a presidential bid that year, but dropped out after he failed to win the nomination for Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang KMT, which traditionally favours close ties with China.

Democratically governed Taiwan will hold the vote in mid-January.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)