The White House on Friday said it was keeping a close watch on increased Chinese military activities in the Taiwan Strait and called Beijing’s recent actions potentially destabilizing.
“We have ... clearly — publicly, privately — expressed our concerns, our growing concerns, about China’s aggression toward Taiwan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
“We’ve seen a concerning increase in PRC [People’s Republic of China] military activity in the Taiwan Strait, which we believe is potentially destabilizing,” she said when asked if Washington was concerned about a possible Chinese invasion.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan has complained over the past few months of repeated missions by China’s air force near the nation, concentrated in the southwestern part of its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島).
On Friday, 11 Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest ADIZ, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The fleet included J-10 and J-16 fighter jets, electronic warfare and marine patrol aircraft, it said.
Taiwan’s air force responded by sending patrol aircraft to the area and monitoring the Chinese planes with its air-defense missile systems, it added.
Beijing on Thursday blamed the US for tensions over Taiwan after a US warship sailed close to the nation, asking rhetorically whether China would sail in the Gulf of Mexico as a “show of strength.”
On Monday, China said a Chinese aircraft carrier group was conducting exercises close to Taiwan, and on Wednesday a US warship sailed through the Strait.
China believes the US is colluding with Taiwan to challenge Beijing and giving support to those who want the nation to declare formal independence.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard
RSS