Asia

Taiwan military on alert for China threats on reports Pelosi may visit

The Taiwanese military has stepped up its combat readiness to prepare for threats from China ahead of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential visit to the island, local media reported.

At the same time, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group are operating near Taiwan, a Chinese think-tank said.

Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA) quoted anonymous “reliable sources” as saying that from 8 a.m. Tuesday until noon Thursday the military will “strengthen combat readiness” of troops and make adjustments in accordance to the possible threats from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

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Taiwan’s armed forces operate at two levels of combat readiness for peacetime and wartime, each level comprises several stages. It is understood that the current stage of preparedness is within the peacetime level, but could change.

While the United States does not recognize Taiwan diplomatically, it retains close unofficial ties with Taipei and is obligated by law to provide it with defense capabilities. Beijing considers the self-ruling, democratic island a breakaway province, to be united with the mainland by force if necessary, and objects strongly to high-level U.S. visits.

The island’s Ministry of National Defense has yet to make any comment on the news that China announced more live-fire exercises in the South China Sea and Bohai Sea.

On Tuesday morning several Chinese military aircraft and warships came close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait – the tacit maritime border between Taiwan and the mainland – Reuters news agency said, quoting an anonymous source.

This move is “unusual” and can be seen as “very provocative,” the source was quoted as saying.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said the island’s military has a “full grasp” of nearby activities and “will appropriately dispatch forces in reaction to enemy threats.”

Aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan conducts a replenishment-at-sea in the Philippine Sea, July 31, 2022. [U.S. Navy 7th Fleet]

USS Ronald Reagan in the Philippine Sea

Meanwhile the USS Ronald Reagan has been sailing in the northern Philippine Sea, east of Taiwan, China’s South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI) think-tank said, tracking the latest flight trajectory of the carrier-borne C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft.

On Monday and Tuesday China announced four more live-fire drills on top of four exercises that ended over the weekend.

The first one is being held in the South China Sea near Hainan Island on Aug. 1 to 6, the same period of Pelosi’s Asia tour.

The other three live-fire drills are in the Bohai Sea, the first from Aug. 1 to Aug. 4, the second on Aug. 3, and the third from Aug. 4 to 6.

On Sunday, just one day before Pelosi began her Asia trip, the PLA also conducted mock air combat training after midnight “with the aim of improving the pilots’ ability to quickly enter combat status for abnormal situations at any time,” the state-supported Global Times reported.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) sources, and sources cited by local media and CNN, said Nancy Pelosi would make an unofficial trip on Tuesday evening to the island, which is not on her official four-nation itinerary. RFA is an online news affiliate of BenarNews.

China issued fresh warnings that the visit “would lead to serious consequences.”

“If Pelosi visits Taiwan, the Chinese side will respond resolutely and take strong countermeasures to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing on Monday.

“As for what those measures will be, let’s see what happens if she actually goes,” Zhao said.

In Washington, the White House and the top U.S. diplomat said Pelosi’s travel plans were up to her, but urged China not to turn any visit to Taiwan into a diplomatic crisis.

Pelosi’s right to visit Taiwan

“The speaker has the right to visit Taiwan, and a speaker of the House has visited Taiwan before, without incident, as have many members of Congress, including this year,” national security spokesman John Kirby said.

“There is no reason for Beijing to turn a potential visit consistent with long-standing U.S. policy into some sort of crisis or conflict, or use it as a pretext to increase aggressive military activity in or around the Taiwan Strait,” he told reporters.

Kirby said Washington would not be moved by any Chinese effort to raise tensions over Pelosi.

“We will not take the bait or engage in saber rattling. At the same time, we will not be intimidated,” he said.

Taiwan’s presidential office and foreign ministry have declined to comment on any visit by Pelosi, although premier Su Chen-chang has said the island’s government, which uses the name of the 1911 Republic of China, will welcome any foreign VIP guests.

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