Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung expressed concerns on Thursday, stating that China is gradually encroaching on Taiwan’s territory and trying to establish this as the new normal through its military exercises and other pressure tactics.
This situation, he noted, should worry the entire world. Following the recent inauguration of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing labels as a “separatist,” China, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, conducted military drills around the island for two days.
While those drills have formally ended, China’s military activities have not, with Taiwan reporting that on Wednesday Chinese warplanes and warships carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol”.
“The Chinese communists’ pressure on Taiwan is all encompassing, especially diplomatically,” Lin told reporters at parliament before taking lawmaker questions.
The minister mentioned that Taiwan is facing significant difficulties in participating in international organisations, exemplified by its exclusion from a major World Health Organization meeting this week.
Chinese pressure keeps Taiwan out of most international bodies. China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of a state, a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects.
Lin pointed to other things China has been doing, like unilaterally opening new air routes close to Taiwan-controlled islands next to the Chinese coast, and sending coast guard ships to Taiwan’s east coast during the exercises last week.
“The Chinese communists are continuing to change the status quo,” he said. “They are creating a new normal, pressing on at every stage, trying to nibble away and annex (us).”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, at its routine news conference on Wednesday, reiterated its list of complaints about Lai being a dangerous supporter of Taiwan’s formal independence, and threatened continued Chinese military activity.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed, and says Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
China says Taiwan is a purely internal matter.
Lin said stability was a matter for everyone.
“The cross-strait issue is not only about the strait; it’s a regional, or even global matter,” he added.
The government in Taipei declares that Taiwan operates as an independent nation, known as the Republic of China. This declaration stems from historical events where, in 1949, the Republican government relocated to Taiwan after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communists, who then established the People’s Republic of China on the mainland.
With Inputs From Reuters
