China might ratchet up pressure on Taiwan as the Chinese Communist Party’s centennial nears, national security officials warned, adding that Beijing’s hegemonic ambitions pose a threat to regional stability.
The National Security Bureau made the remarks in a report it sent to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee ahead of a session scheduled for tomorrow.
China is taking a hardline approach to sovereignty and human rights disputes, a line of action that would put more pressure on Taiwan and its neighbors, the bureau said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Beijing’s attitude is seen in its expansionist moves in disputed waters of the Indo-Pacific, its obstinacy over human rights issues in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and the nationalist tune of its internal propaganda, it said.
China is “clashing fiercely” with the US in a bid to defeat its containment, but without giving up opportunities to collaborate on other issues, it said.
For example, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Thursday accepted US President Joe Biden’s invitation to attend a climate change teleconference, where he expressed support for global climate governance.
At the same time, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) is touring foreign countries with the aim of using personal diplomacy to undermine a US-built alliance, the bureau said.
Protracted US-China competition would engender unpredictability in the development of regional and global affairs, it said.
Confronted with this prospect, East Asian countries are likely to adopt “agenda-oriented diplomacy,” it said.
This means collaborating with the US or China issue-by-issue with an aim to reduce tensions, increase diplomatic flexibility and protect their own interests, it said.
The importance of peace across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan’s strategic value are increasingly recognized by the US, Japan and other powerful countries, the bureau said.
As a result, Taiwan should enjoy greater international support, it said.
China’s passage of a law empowering coast guard ships to fire on foreign vessels has led to a global backlash, with Japan and ASEAN members increasing patrols in disputed waters, it added.
The US and European countries are conducting freedom of navigation operations, and India might be brought in as an ally, it said.
These actions have increased the risk of mishaps and conflict, and should be deemed a concerning factor to Taiwan’s security, the bureau said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
RSS