Taiwan is on high alert following frequent Chinese intrusions into its airspace
Beijing/Taipei/Washington D.C.: At the backdrop of repeated violation of Taiwan’s airspace by Chinese warplanes, Beijing asserted today that “Taiwan belongs to China” and hit hard at the US for the latter’s appeal to China “to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan”.
Taiwan today reported two instances of violation of its southwest air space by respectively 52 and 4 China’s People’s Liberation Army aircrafts that included 38 J-16, 2 SU-30, 2 Y-8 Anti Submarine Warplanes (ASW, 2 KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C), and 12 H-6 warplanes. Taiwan said the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) aircraft was tasked, radio warnings were issued and air defense missile systems were deployed to monitor the activity.
Adopting an aggressive tone, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying went on to declare that “Taiwan independence” leads nowhere and that China will take all necessary measures to resolutely crush all attempts at “Taiwan independence”.
“China has firm resolve and will to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she said.
The US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price had issued a statement on October 3, 2021, that said that the United State was very concerned by “China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability”.
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Price went on to state that the USA had an “abiding interest” in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. “We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability, and we will maintain our commitments as outlined in the Three Communiqués, the Taiwan Relations Act, and the Six Assurances,” he stated and asserted that the U.S. commitment to Taiwan “is rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region”.
The US reaffirmed that it will continue to stand with friends and allies “to advance our shared prosperity, security, and values and deepen our ties with democratic Taiwan”.
China rebuked the US claiming it is in “no position to make irresponsible remarks”. Beijing claimed the relevant remarks by the US side “seriously violate the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués and send an extremely wrong and irresponsible signal”.
Chunying stated that for quite some time, the US has been making negative moves by selling arms to Taiwan and strengthening official and military ties with Taiwan, including the launch of a $750 million arms sale plan to Taiwan, the landing of US military aircraft in Taiwan and frequent sailing of US warships across the Taiwan Strait.
“These provocative moves undermine China-US relations and regional peace and stability. China is firmly opposed to them and has taken necessary countermeasures,” she said. She further asserted that the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. “On the Taiwan question, the US should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the China-US joint communiqués rather than something cooked up by itself unilaterally,” she said.
China advised the US that the latter should “correct its mistakes, earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, stop supporting and emboldening separatist forces of “Taiwan independence”, and take concrete actions to safeguard rather than undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.
– global bihari bureau
