PINGTUNG, Taiwan — Taiwan’s foreign minister said Tuesday that China aims to control the East and South China Seas via the Taiwan Strait, describing a greater ambition to upend the Asia-Pacific status quo and prevent nations from aiding the self-governing island.
The foreign minister Joseph Wu addressed a press conference in Taipei, as Taiwan started live-fire military drills. This was in response to Chinese ongoing exercises.
China claims its drills were prompted last week by Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island. Wu however claimed that China used her visit as a pretext. China also removed dialogue between the U.S. and Taiwan on many issues, including climate.
Wu claimed that China seeks to overthrow the status-quo and annexe Taiwan (the self-governing island nation it claims) as its territory.
Continue reading: China Sanctions Pelosi, Sends an ‘Unprecedented’ 100 Warplanes to Taiwan Drills
The drills are a rehearsal for an invasion of the island in which it seeks to prevent other countries coming to the island’s assistance, Wu said.
The exercises also show China’s “geostrategic ambition beyond Taiwan,” Wu said.
“China has no right to interfere in or alter” the Taiwanese people’s democratic process or interaction with other nations, he said.
Taiwan and the mainland are separate jurisdictions with “neither subordinate to the other,” Wu said.
China sent its military planes, ships, and aircraft across the Taiwan Strait’s midline on Thursday and fired missiles at the waters around Taiwan. Beijing ignores calls to calm tensions and continues to extend the blockade-like exercises without annoucing when it will stop.
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