Pelosi angered Chinese authorities by visiting Taiwan on August 2. As a reaction, Chinese warships and fighter planes carried out military drills in waters near Taiwan, according to the island’s Ministry of Defense, at a time when tensions intensified in the region after the visit of the president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to the island this week.
The ministry said Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces crossed the “median line” – the midpoint between the island and mainland China – in a move it called a “highly provocative act.” The line had so far been an informally controlled but strictly respected border between Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan population on war alert
Taiwan’s military responded with radio warnings and put air patrol forces, navy ships and ground-based missile systems on alert, the ministry added.
China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, launched the most important military exercises in its history around the island on Thursday, in a total of six areas.
The Chinese military and government have yet to formally confirm that Chinese missiles flew over Taiwan during the drills, while Taiwanese authorities also refuse to confirm.
However, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Friday that Chinese “warplanes and warships” had crossed the “median line” of the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the mainland. The ministry denounced “highly provocative” military exercises.
Shots with live fire that flew over Taiwan for the first time
The Japanese Defense Ministry said that of the nine missiles it detected, four “would have flown over the main island of Taiwan.”
“This time our exercises included live fire, and it was the first time they flew over Taiwan,” Meng Xiangqinq, a professor at the army-affiliated National Defense University, told Chinese state television CCTV.
The military exercises are scheduled to last until noon on Sunday, and China has so far ignored outraged protests from the United States and its allies.
jov (afp, ap)