Richards Marles has reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to the one-China policy as Canberra moves towards “stabilizing” its relationship with Beijing.
Speaking with Sky News Australia’s Kieran Gilbert on Sunday, the Defense Minister and acting Prime Minister said Australia’s main motive was to see a “de-escalation of tensions” in the region.
“What we want to see is a return to normal peaceful behavior which underpins that, from Australia’s point of view, is not wanting to see any unilateral change to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“That means we have a one-China policy that’s been the status quo in Australian policy, and indeed for the United States and other countries, for a very long period of time.”
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Under Australia’s version of the one-China policy Taiwan is acknowledged as a province of China and is not recognized as its own country, however, the policy allows for unofficial contact including visits from MPs on parliamentary delegations.
Mr Marles said he did not believe Australia’s stance on Taiwan would hinder the repair of bilateral relations between Canberra and Beijing but said he wanted to see the relationship in a “better place”.
“We talk about a stabilizing in the relationship and in doing that we acknowledge there are going to be challenges in the relationship with China,” he said.
“What we have sought to do is really change the tone in the way in which we are engaging with the world but that includes the way in which we engage with China.
“We’re not going about things with chest beating we are really trying to speak with a considered voice in a manner which is professional, which is sober, and which is diplomatic.”
Beijing ended diplomatic communications with Canberra in January 2020 and slapped sanctions on barley, beef, wine and other goods after then-prime minister Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the emergence of COVID-19.
He said the Albanese government’s approach would be “professional” and “respectful” in its approach without compromising Australia’s national interest.
“We want to engage professionally and respectfully but we will absolutely be articulating our national interest,” he said.
“There are going to be challenges going forward at the same time we acknowledge they’re our largest trading partner and we value a productive relationship with China.
“We do want to see our relationship in a better place but we’ll continue to articulate our national interest and we’ll see how far down this road we can walk.”
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday repeated military threats against Taiwan while appearing to wind down wargames near the self-governing island it claims as its own territory that have raised tensions between the two sides to their highest level in years.
The message in a lengthy policy statement issued by the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office and its news department followed almost a week of missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace by Chinese warships and air force plans.
The actions disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting strong condemnation from the US, Japan and others.
An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would “work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification.”
“But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities,” it said.
“We will always be ready to respond with the use of force or other necessary means to interference by external forces or radical action by separatist elements. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the prospects of China’s peaceful reunification and advance this process,” it said.
China says its threatening moves were prompted by a visit to Taiwan last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Taiwan says such visits are routine and that China used her trip merely as a pretext to up its threats.
In an additional response to Pelosi’s visit, China said it was cutting off dialogue on issues from maritime security to climate change with the US, Taiwan’s chief military and political backer.
Taiwan’s foreign minister warned Tuesday that the Chinese military drills reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, while Taipei conducted its own exercises to underscore its readiness to defend itself.
Beijing’s strategy would include controlling the East and South China seas via the Taiwan Strait and imposing a blockade to prevent the US and its allies from aiding Taiwan in the event of an attack, Joseph Wu told a news conference in Taipei.
Beijing extended the ongoing exercises without announcing when they would end, although they appeared to have run their course for the time being.
China’s Defense Ministry and its Eastern Theater Command both issued statements saying the exercises had achieved their targets of sending a warning to those favoring Taiwan’s formal independence and their foreign backers.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party administration are “pushing Taiwan into the abyss of disaster and sooner or later will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame!” Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei was quoted as saying in a statement on the ministry’s website.
Troops taking part in the exercises had “effectively tested integrated joint combat capabilities,” the Eastern Theater Command said on its Twitter-like Weixin microblog.
“The theater troops will monitor changes in the situation in the Taiwan Strait, continue to conduct military training and preparations, organize regular combat readiness patrols in the Taiwan Strait, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” spokesperson Col. Shi Yi was quoted as saying.
Taiwan split with the mainland amid civil war in 1949, and its 23 million people overwhelmingly oppose political unification with China while preferring to maintain close economic links and de facto independence.
Through its maneuvers, China has pushed closer to Taiwan’s borders and may be seeking to establish a new normal in which it could eventually control access to the island’s ports and airspace.
Along with lobbing missiles into the Taiwan Straitthe nearly week-long drills saw Chinese ships and planes crossing the center line in the strait that has long been seen as a buffer against outright conflict.
The US, Taipei’s main backer, has also shown itself to be willing to face down China’s threats. Washington has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, but is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats against it as matters of grave concern.
That leaves open the question of whether Washington would dispatch forces if China attacked Taiwan. US President Joe Biden has said repeatedly the US is bound to do so — but staff members have quickly walked back those comments.
Beyond the geopolitical risks, an extended crisis in the Taiwan Strait — a significant thoroughfare for global trade — could have major implications for international supply chains at a time when the world is already facing disruptions and uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
In particular, Taiwan is a crucial provider of computer chips for the global economy, including China’s high-tech sector.
In response to the drills, Taiwan has put its forces on alert, but has so far refrained from taking active countermeasures.
On Tuesday, its military held live-fire artillery drills in Pingtung County on its southeastern coast.
Australia’s recent change of government is a chance to “reset” its troubled relationship with China, but the new administration must “handle the Taiwan question with caution,” a Chinese shipment said Wednesday.
China has brushed aside foreign criticism of its actions, and its ambassador to Australia said he was “surprised” that Australia had signed a statement with the United States and Japan that condemned China’s firing of missiles into Japanese waters in response to Pelosi’s visit.
Xiao Qian told the National Press Club that China wanted to resolve the situation peacefully, but “we can never rule out the option to use other means.”
“So when necessary, when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means,” Xiao said. “As to what does it mean by ‘all necessary means?’ You can use your imagination.”
In London, the British government summoned Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to the Foreign Office on Wednesday to demand an explanation of ”Beijing’s aggressive and wide-ranging escalation against Taiwan” following Pelosi’s visit.
“We have seen increasingly aggressive behavior and rhetoric from Beijing in recent months, which threaten peace and stability in the region,” said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. “The United Kingdom urges China to resolve any differences by peaceful means, without the threat or use of force or coercion.”
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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
Beijing’s new trade blocks against Taiwan affect about 0.04% of their two-way trade, making them more political than economic.
Beijing took action against Taiwan following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island earlier this month despite warnings from Beijing. That included suspensions of imports of Taiwanese citrus, frozen fish, sweets and biscuits and exports of natural sands to Taiwan.
Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory and a breakaway province. China says Taiwan has no right to conduct foreign relations and warned for weeks against Pelosi’s visit.
What trade numbers show
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, after arriving at the president’s office on August 3, 2022, in Taipei, Taiwan. Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own and responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington.
Handout | Getty ImagesNews | Getty Images
When it comes to Taiwan’s imports from mainland China, more than half of the $82 billion traded in 2021 were electrical machinery, electronic and technological parts as well as nuclear reactors and boilers.
As for Taiwan’s exports to China, 65% of them were also similar goods in electrical machinery, electronic and technological parts.
Drop in the ocean
On the other hand, the volume of trade in areas that Beijing has targeted is relatively small.
Exports of natural sand to Taiwan — which Beijing has targeted — were a drop in the ocean against the above figures. They amounted to about $3.5 million last year, data from the Taiwanese trade bureau showed.
They were also a small trade compared with natural sand exports from Australia and Vietnam, the biggest suppliers of natural sand to Taiwan last year. Together, they supplied about $64 million of the raw material used in construction and other industries, making up 70% of Taiwan’s purchases, according to its trade bureau.
Similarly, the targeted trade of citrus was valued at a relatively small $10 million last year, though mainland China was also Taiwan’s biggest citrus buyer, Taiwan’s trade data showed.
The agricultural products now in the headlines are only a fraction of Taiwan’s export basket. And so the headline impact on Taiwan won’t really be noticeable.
Nick Brown
Economist Intelligence Unit
Other targets such as Taiwan’s exports of bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits to mainland China were worth more than $50 million in total last year.
Beijing’s specific suspension of two kinds of frozen fishes, horse mackerel and largehead hairtail, were valued at over $3 million in 2021, according to Taiwan’s trade bureau.
“China’s economic retaliation against Taiwan is a long-standing strategy in its diplomatic playbook. That said, its decision to target relatively low-value trade items reflects the limits of its economic pressure toolbox,” said global trade lead analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit , Nick Marro.
“It’s already had restrictions on Chinese visitors to Taiwan in place for a few years, which carry more economic significance; the agricultural products now in the headlines are only a fraction of Taiwan’s export basket. And so the headline impact on Taiwan won’t really be noticeable.”
Precedents
Beijing’s trade suspensions against Taiwan are not a new phenomenon.
In previous years, tensions between the two have led to bans on mainland travelers to Taiwan.
Last year, China suspended imports of Taiwanese pineapples, citing quarantine measures over “harmful creatures” that came with the fruit. China was Taiwan’s biggest pineapple buyer up to that point.
Investment bank Natixis said that the recent Chinese trade restrictions focused on “highly replaceable food products” but not the information and communications technology sector in which the two trading partners have the most trade.
The bank also said mainland China will continue to import from Taiwan as long as it needs the goods, similar to what it has done in other trade conflicts such as the one it has with Australia and the United States.
In the China-Australia trade dispute that started in 2020, China restricted the purchase of some goods such as barley and coal but continued to buy iron ore from Australia, a key ingredient for China’s steel production and the bedrock of the countries’ trade.
There may also be other fallouts from the Pelosi visit that could hurt wider regional trade. For example, heightened military drills in the Taiwan Strait may delay shipments, analysts say.
“The shutting down of these transport routes — even temporarily — has consequences not only for Taiwan, but also trade flows tied to Japan and South Korea,” Marro said.
“It’s not just a story for Taiwan and China, but also for their neighbors, as well.”
Analysis by logistics platform Container xChange said any rerouting of shipping lines to avoid military exercises may be problematic for the trading world as it enters peak shipping season.
Container xChange Chief Executive Christian Roeloffs said, however, that supply chains have become far more resilient over the course of the pandemic.
Customer feedback shows any rerouting of vessels away from the Taiwan Strait will add a few days to ship voyages, though Roeloffs does not anticipate a massive hit to logistics costs.
China’s ambassador to Australia has stressed there will be no compromise on Taiwan, saying Beijing has been “waiting for a peaceful reunification” but will not rule out using other means if necessary.
Key points:
As China continues military drills around Taiwan, Xiao Qian says there is no room for compromise
He has addressed ties with Australia, saying a change in government provided an “opportunity to reset”
The media came under attack for souring relations through its “negative” China coverage
“As to what does it mean ‘all necessary means?’ You can use your imagination,” Xiao Qian said.
Addressing the National Press Club as China’s historic military drills in the Taiwan Strait entered a sixth day, Mr Xiao would not predict how long the exercises would continue.
“If every country put their ‘One China’ policy into practice with sincerity, with no compromise, it is going to guarantee the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“There’s no room for compromise. How long it’s going to last, a proper time? I think there will be an announcement.”
The drills were triggered by a visit to the island from United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week, angering China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own.
Saying Beijing’s response is “legitimate and justified”, the ambassador repeated China’s blame on the US for the current tensions.
“It is the US side that should, and must, take full responsibility for the escalation of tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Xiao said.
The largest-ever Chinese exercises surrounding the island have included ballistic missile launches and simulated sea and air attacks in the skies and seas surrounding Taiwan.
They have fueled discussion about the global response if China were to attack the island.
It has also prompted Taiwan to begin its own military drills to test combat readiness, and prepare air raid shelters for its 23 million residents.
“I would rather not use the word ‘invasion’ when we talk about China and Taiwan,” Mr Xiao said.
“Taiwan is different from any other scenario or situation. Taiwan is not an independent state … Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China.”
People in Taiwan have been told to take shelter and cover their eyes and ears in the event of a missile attack.(Reuters: Ann Wang)
Mr Xiao’s comments came as China released a new statement mirroring the remarks.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring Taiwan under its control.
An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would “work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification … But we will not renounce the use of force”.
Mending Australia-China relations
Repairing China and Australia’s fractured ties dominated much of the ambassador’s speech.
He said the change in government provided an “opportunity to reset” the relationship between the two nations.
In recent years, the relationship has deteriorated, with China imposing trade sanctions on several Australian exports such as wine and lobsters.
The ambassador said recent high-level meetings had been productive, but that there was still a long way to go.
“The positive progress in our bilateral relations is encouraging. It’s [an] encouraging start. And, of course, there’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.
Mr Xiao pressed the importance of cooperation and not being swayed by interests with other partners.
While he has avoided naming the US, he said Australia should make its own judgments and decisions, “free from interference from a third party”.
“When we cooperate, we both win. When we don’t, we both lose,” he said.
“So, it is imperative for the governments of our two countries to adopt positive policies towards each other, take positive and concrete measures to improve the atmosphere of cooperation.”
Ms Pelosi met with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during her visit to Taipei. (AP: Taiwan Presidential Office)
Australia has joined with other nations — including the US — to condemn Beijing’s decision to extend military drills around Taiwan.
Chinese officials have said condemnation by Australia was undermining regional peace and stability, and amounted to meddling in its affairs.
Prior to Mr Xiao’s address, acting Prime Minister Richard Marles called on China to end its combat exercises and maintain the status quo.
He added that there was little the federal government could do to ward off constant Chinese criticism of Australia, saying it was up to China whether relations with Australia thawed or deteriorated again.
“If engaging in a more respectful, diplomatic way takes us some way down a path, it does — and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Mr Marles said.
“We can only control our end of this equation. But we will always be speaking up for the national interest.”
Media comes under attack
Australia’s media was also criticized for its role in sourcing relations.
The ambassador said China was rarely portrayed in a positive light, instead coverage was overwhelmingly negative and unfair.
“Media coverage of China is, at many times, misleading and harms friendship between the two peoples,” he said.
“No country is perfect, however the coverage on a country that is always in a negative perspective is nowhere near to telling the truth about that country.”
Fan Yang, a research fellow in Chinese-Australian communities at Deakin University, said she tended to agree with the ambassador that “there was a lack of diversity in Australian journalists reporting on issues of China.”
She said this was because Australian interests and angles were applied to coverage on China.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in July, in the first such talks since 2019. (Supplied: Australian Embassy in Jakarta)
Mr Xiao said China was committed to strengthening ties, marking December 22 — the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries — as a key date.
“I think it’s perfect time for our two countries to review the past, look into the future, take concrete actions in the spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefits.”
Feng Chongyi, an associate professor from the University of Technology Sydney, said nothing new came out of the address and was disappointed that Mr Xiao did not elaborate on concrete measures to reset and improve Australia-China relations.
“He pretty much attributed all the reasons for the deterioration of Australia-China relations in the past few years to the policies of the previous Australian government, without suggesting that China had any responsibility, [and] even denying Chinese economic coercion in general, which is untrue,” Dr Feng told the ABC.
“The policy of the previous Australian government was a bipartisan consensus, a fact the ambassador ignored.”
The relationship between Australia and China has been battered by a series of acrimonious disputes over the last two years. But since Work won the election in May both countries have taken tentative steps towards stabilizing the relationship.
Both the Foreign Minister Penny Wong and the Defense Minister Richard Marles have held a one-on-one meetings with their Chinese counterparts, ending a two-year high level diplomatic freeze between Canberra and beijing.
But there are still structural barriers to serious improvement.
(ABCNews)
Australia remains deeply concerned about a raft of issues from China’s treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang regionto the imprisonment of Australian journalist ChengLeirepression of rights and free speech in Hong Kong and Beijing’s moves to increase its influence in the Pacific.
And the recent taiwan crises have you seen China once again step up its verbal attacks on Australia, after the federal government raised concerns about Beijing’s military drills in the wake of the Nancy Pelosi visit to the island.
All of which should make for an interesting Q&A session at the end of Mr Xiao’s talk.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has begun issuing a Chinese-themed 88-cent commemorative banknote, which has been causing a stir with many questioning the timing and significance of the release.
Key points:
The banknote has been issued as a collectors’ item and will not be in circulation
It features Chinese imagery, alongside the Fijian coat of arms
The release has been polarizing at it comes at a time of geopolitical tension over China’s Pacific influence
The 88-cent collectors’ item was released on the eighth day of the eighth month of the year.
The number eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, bringing wealth and fortune — and the more eights the better.
Accompanying the lucky Chinese number, one side of the note features an image of the Chinese god of wealth and a money tree.
The words “Good luck and good fortune. May prosperity be yours” are printed in the corner.
The other side has a hibiscus flower, the Fiji coat of arms and the Governor of the Reserve Bank’s signature.
The note is available for purchase from the RBF for FJ$28 ($18), but as it is numismatic, and so purely for collectors, it will not be in circulation.
The front of the banknote features Fijian symbols alongside the Chinese lucky number denominational value. (Fiji Reserve Bank)
Why has it been released?
The issue of the note has raised eyebrows and sparked a flurry of confusion on social media.
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People joked about the worth of the 88-cent currency, while others questioned why the RBF would release the note at a time when China’s growing influence in the Pacific has been causing diplomatic tension.
Following the “misinformation and speculation on social media,” the RBF issued a clarification statement.
It said the banknote was created to generate sales income targeting the Chinese and wider Asian market, adding that “NO NEW $0.88 numismatic banknotes will be entering into circulation”.
“The newly-announced $0.88 numismatic banknote is among the hundreds of non-circulation numismatic currency that the RBF has produced since 1974,” the statement said.
“The practice is similar to that of stamp production, whereby hobbyists can purchase the banknotes and coins for their collections.”
In the past, the RBF has issued banknotes and coins with Christmas imagery, celebrities, landmarks and Fijian fauna themes.
While it is common for the RBF to issue themed numismatics banknotes and coins, Biman Prasad — the leader of the National Federation party — said they are usually produced with a specific intention.
“They are normally produced to mark commemorative events of both national and sometimes international significance,” Mr Prasad told the ABC’s Pacific Beat program.
“I think the controversy is, what does it mean? What does this commemorate?”
De La Rue — a British company that collaborated with the RBF to design and produce the banknote — said it was released to bless people with fortune in challenging times.
“This theme was chosen because it was felt appropriate to wish people wealth and good fortune in the context of challenging global events,” De La Rue said.
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The RBF has generated over $8 million in income through the sale of numismatic banknotes and coins.
Mr Prasad said it is odd for the bank to be focusing on raising funds when there are more important issues to address.
“The Reserve Bank should be really concerned about other issues, particularly inflation and high cost of living,” he said.
Suspicion vs celebration
The Chinese community in Fiji is small but significant.
There are around 8,000 people of Chinese origin who live in the country, which makes up about 1 per cent of the population.
Mr Prasad said the community is respected and had contributed to the development of the country in a significant way.
However, in the current geopolitical circumstances, it creates “suspension and controversy”.
“At this point in time, it doesn’t make sense for them to engage in these kinds of novelty exercises,” he said.
Neisau Tuidraki is a Fijian based in Melbourne who describes herself as an “avid” banknote collector.
She thinks the new note should be embraced as a way to celebrate Fiji’s Chinese community.
“It’s very polarizing for some people, but avid collectors like myself will probably buy it up,”Ms Tuidraki told the ABC.
“I’ve actually talked to a couple of my family back home and asked them to go into the Reserve Bank and purchase one for me.”
Neisau Tuidraki sees the note as a celebration of Fiji’s Chinese community. (Supplied )
While Ms Tuidraki acknowledges the animosity regarding China’s influence in the region, for her the note symbolizes the generations of positivity.
“I can honestly say that some of the best Chinese food I’ve had is in Fiji,” she said.
“As Fijians, we should embrace it. We have a very vibrant and diverse Chinese community in Fiji, and I think it’s a good way to celebrate that.”
Australian National University professor of finance Meijun Qian also believes the move should not be politicised.
She views it simply as a symbol of economic collaboration.
“It’s being too criticized,” Professor Qian told the ABC.
“If Fiji wants to develop more economic connections with China with this kind of symbolic thing, I don’t think they need to get any extra political attention.”
PINGTUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan warned Tuesday that Chinese military drills aren’t just a rehearsal for an invasion of the self-governing island but also reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, as Taipei conducted its own exercises to underscore it’s ready to defend itself.
Angered by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, China has sent military ships and plans across the midline that separates the two sides in the Taiwan Strait and launched missiles into waters surrounding the island. The drills, which began Thursday, have disrupted flights and shipping in one of the busiest zones for global trade.
Ignoring calls to calm tensions, Beijing instead extended the exercises without announcing when they will end.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that beyond aiming to annex the island democracy, which split with the mainland amid civil war in 1949, China wants to establish its dominance in the western Pacific. That would include controlling of the East and South China Seas via the Taiwan Strait and imposing a blockade to prevent the US and its allies from aiding Taiwan in the event of an attack, he told a news conference in Taipei.
The exercises show China’s “geostrategic ambition beyond Taiwan,” which Beijing claims as its own territory, Wu said.
“China has no right to interfere in or alter” Taiwan’s democracy or its interactions with other nations, he added.
Wu’s assessment of China’s maneuvers was grimmer than that of other observers but echoed widespread concerns that Beijing is seeking to expand its influence in the Pacific, where the US has military bases and extensive treaty partnerships.
China has said its drills were prompted by Pelosi’s visit, but Wu said Beijing was using her trip as a pretext for intimidating moves long in the works. China also banned some Taiwanese food imports after the visit and cut off dialogue with the US on a range of issues from military contacts to combating transnational crime and climate change.
Pelosi also dismissed China’s outrage as a public stunt, noting on NBC’s “Today” show that “nobody said a word” about a Senate delegation a few visit months ago. Later on the MSNBC news network, she said Chinese President Xi Jinping was acting like a “scared bully.”
“I don’t think the president of China should control the schedules of members of Congress,” she said.
Through its maneuvers, China has pushed closer to Taiwan’s borders and may be seeking to establish a new normal in which it could eventually control access to the island’s ports and airspace. But that would likely elicit a strong response from the military on the island, whose people strongly favor the status quo of de-facto independence.
The US, Taipei’s main backer, has also shown itself to be willing to face down Beijing’s threats. Washington has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, but is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats against it as matters of grave concern.
That leaves open the question of whether Washington would dispatch forces if China attacked Taiwan. US President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the US is bound to do so — but staff members have quickly walked back those comments.
Beyond the geopolitical risks, an extended crisis in the Taiwan Strait, a significant thoroughfare for global trade, could have major implications for international supply chains at a time when the world is already facing disruptions and uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In particular, Taiwan is a crucial provider of computer chips for the global economy, including China’s high-tech sectors.
In response to the drills, Taiwan has put its forces on alert, but has so far refrained from taking active counter measures.
On Tuesday, its military held live-fire artillery drills in Pingtung County on its southeastern coast.
The army will continue to train and accumulate strength to deal with the threat from China, said Maj. Gen. Lou Woei-jye, spokesperson for Taiwan’s 8th Army Command. “No matter what the situation is… this is the best way to defend our country.”
Taiwan, once a Japanese colony, had only loose connections to imperial China and then split with the mainland in 1949. Despite never having governed the island, China’s ruling Communist Party regards it as its own territory and has sought to isolate it diplomatically and economically in addition to ratcheting up military threats.
Washington has insisted Pelosi’s visit did not change its “one China policy,” which holds that the United States has no position on the status of the two sides but wants their dispute settled peacefully.
___
Associated Press writer Ashraf Khalil in Washington contributed to this report.
US President Joe Biden talks to reporters while boarding Air Force One on travel to Eastern Kentucky to visit families affected by devastation from recent flooding, as he departs from Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, US, August 8, 2022.
Kevin Lamarques | Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Monday he is “not worried” about China’s military exercises around Taiwan, adding that while he is “concerned that they’re moving as much as they are,” he does not think they’re going to continue to increase the pressure.
The remarks came one day after Beijing concluded 72 hours of intense maneuvers and missile tests over and around Taiwan. The exercises involved dozens of Chinese fighter jets and warships to mimic a military blockade of the self-governing island that Beijing considers a province.
Biden’s relative calm reflected the deliberate American strategy of not responding to Chinese bellicosity with equally hot saber-rattling.
It also reflects a broader opinion within the Biden administration that Beijing does not intend to make good on its implicit threat to invade Taiwan, at least not in the near term.
Given this assessment, the United States has adopted an approach, for now, of heightened vigilance, but steadfastly refused to be drawn into a military game of chicken in the Pacific.
Last Thursday, the White House announced that Biden would keep a US naval aircraft carrier strike group in the South China Sea longer than originally planned, in response to Beijing’s increased aggression toward Taiwan.
At the same time, a Biden spokesman said the United States would postpone a previously scheduled intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, test.
The decisions signaled Washington’s desire to maintain American military alertness in the region, while also denying Beijing the opportunity to point to the long-planned US missile test as evidence that America was responding to China’s own missile launches near Taiwan with military preparations of its own.
Beijing claimed its military exercises were conducted in retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.
The visit by the California Democrat, which the Biden White House publicly defended but privately opposed, marked the first time in 25 years that an American House speaker, a position second in line to the presidency, had visited Taiwan.
Asked Monday whether it was wise for Pelosi to have traveled to Taiwan given the tense US-China relationship, Biden gave the standard response his administration has used for weeks.
“That was her decision,” he said, before boarding Air Force One en route to Kentucky, where Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit communities impacted by catastrophic flooding last week.
BEIJING (AP) — China said Monday it is extending threatening military exercises surrounding Taiwan that have disrupted shipping and air traffic and substantially raised concerns about the potential for conflict in a region crucial to global trade.
The announcement increases uncertainty in the crisis that developed last week with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
The exercises will include anti-submarine drills, apparently targeting US support for Taiwan in the event of a potential Chinese invasion, according to social media posts from the eastern leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party’s military arm, the People’s Liberation Army.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and its leader, Xi Jinping, has focused on bringing the self-governing island democracy under the mainland’s control, by force if necessary. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing considers visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognizing its sovereignty.
Xi is seeking a third term as Communist Party leader later this year. His control of him over the armed forces and what he has defined as China’s “core interests” — including Taiwan, territorial claims in the South China Sea and historic adversary Japan — are key to maintaining his nationalist credentials of him.
The military has said the exercises, involving missile strikes, warplanes and ship movements crossing the midline of the Taiwan Strait dividing the sides, were a response to Pelosi’s visit.
China has ignored calls to calm the tensions, and there was no immediate indication of when it would end what amounts to a blockade.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China would “firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, resolutely deter the US from containing China with the Taiwan issue and resolutely shatter the Taiwan authorities’ illusion of “relying on the US for independence.”
China’s slowing economic growth, which has reduced options among migrant workers as well as college graduates, has raised the specter of social unrest. The party has maintained its power through total control of the press and social media, along with suppression of political opponents, independent lawyers and activists working on issues from online free speech to LGBQT rights.
China doesn’t allow public opinion polls, and popular opinion is hard to judge. However, it generally skews in favor of the government and its efforts to restore China’s former dominant role in the region that puts it in conflict with the United States and its allies, including Japan and Australia.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said Sunday it detected a total of 66 aircraft and 14 warships conducting the naval and air exercises. The island has responded by putting its military on alert and deploying ships, plans and other assets to monitor Chinese aircraft, ships and drones that are “simulating attacks on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea.”
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that Taiwan’s army will conduct live-fire artillery drills in southern Pingtung county on Tuesday and Thursday, in response to the Chinese exercises.
The drills will include snipers, combat vehicles, armored vehicles as well as attack helicopters, said the report, which cited an anonymous source.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has called on the international community to “support democratic Taiwan” and “halt any escalation of the regional security situation.” The Group of Seven industrialized nations has also criticized China’s actions, prompting Beijing to cancel a meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi.
China has cut off defense and climate talks with the US and imposed sanctions on Pelosi in retaliation for her visit.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia over the weekend that Pelosi’s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in American policy toward Taiwan. He accused China of using the trip as a “pretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait.”
The Biden administration and Pelosi say the US remains committed to the “one-China” policy that extends formal diplomatic recognition to Beijing while allowing robust informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.
The US, however, criticized Beijing’s actions in the Taiwan Strait, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling them “fundamentally irresponsible.”
“There’s no need and no reason for this escalation,” Jean-Pierre said.
In Washington, Taiwanese de facto ambassador Bi-khim Hsiao said China had no reason to “be so furious” over Pelosi’s visit, which follows a long tradition of American lawmakers visiting Taiwan.
“Well, you know, we have been living under the threat from China for decades,” Hsiao told CBS News on Sunday. “If you have a kid being bullied at school, you don’t say you don’t go to school. You try to find a way to deal with the bully.
“The risks are posed by Beijing,” Hsiao said.
On a visit to Myanmar, whose Chinese-backed military government has been accused of murdering its opponents, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington was “taking the opportunity to build up its military deployment in the region, which deserves high vigilance and resolute boycott from all sides.”
“China’s firm stance” is aimed at “earnestly safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait and regional stability,” Wang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called for a cooling of tensions. “Australia continues to urge restraint, Australia continues to urge deescalation, and this is not something that solely Australia is calling for, and the whole region is concerned about the current situation, the whole region is calling for stability to be restored,” Wong told reporters in Canberra.
Embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande has canceled a contract to build a football stadium in a southern city in return for 5.52 billion yuan ($818 million), it said in a filing.
The real estate behavior has been involved in restructuring negotiations after racking up $300 billion in liabilities in the wake of Beijing’s crackdown on excessive debt and rampant speculation in the property sector.
In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange late Thursday, Evergrande said “the group’s liquidity issue has adversely affected the development of and construction on the land” in Guangzhou.
The contract allowed for commercial and sports uses of the land for 40 years, as well as other business uses for 50 years, the filing said.
The latest refund will enter a project escrow account designated by the government and will be used to settle debts relating to the deal, Evergrande said.
Evergrande, one of China’s biggest developers, has scrambled to offload assets in recent months, with chairman Hui Ka Yan paying off some of its debts using his personal wealth.
Its troubles are emblematic of the problems rippling across China’s massive property sector, with smaller companies also defaulting on loans and others struggling to raise cash.
