BEIJING - China said the rising number of warplanes it sends towards Taiwan is due to the island’s “military collusion” with the United States, shedding light on its motives for the activity.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “drills are a solemn warning against Taipei’s increased provocation, which damaged peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, Mr Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
“Democratic Progressive Party authorities have recently intensified military collusion with the US,” he added, referring to the ruling party of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
When asked what exactly “collusion” entailed, Mr Ma said the “facts are clear”, adding that “all people living on earth know it”.
That was an apparent reference to US lawmakers in December agreeing to a spending Bill that included US$2 billion (S$2.66 billion) in weapons funding for Taiwan in 2023 and as much as US$10 billion through 2027.
The Defence Ministry in Beijing earlier criticised the US National Defence Authorisation Act, saying it played up the threat posed by China and interfered in the country’s internal affairs.
Days after the Defence Act was passed, the PLA held its biggest drills since the exercises after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August.
The Chinese military sent 71 aircraft towards the island from Dec 25 to 26, 47 of them making incursions either across the median line of the Taiwan Strait or into the island’s sensitive air-defence identification zone.
The Biden administration criticised the flights as “provocative” while insisting that it would continue helping the government in Taipei defend itself. The US National Security Council also said the Chinese military activity was “destabilising, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability”.
The episode shows that while ties between Beijing and Washington have improved since Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden met at the Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia in November, the Taiwan issue remains a persistent source of tension.
In 2022, some 1,700 Chinese warplanes carried out incursions near Taiwan, nearly double the number of 2021.
At the briefing on Wednesday, Mr Ma criticised a report about a “war game” developed by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, which found that a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan “quickly founders” but exacts high costs on the island and the US Navy.
Some “think-tanks from the US frequently publish so-called reports under the pretense of academic research that hype up the China threat”, Mr Ma said. “They’re seeking benefits for their military-industrial groups at home while trying to sow discord among people across the strait.”
China was also “opposed” to the four days of trade talks that officials from the US and Taiwan will hold in Taipei starting on Saturday.
The meeting will be part of the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade that began in June to reach agreement in areas including trade facilitation and regulatory practices. Officials held “conceptual discussions” in New York in November. BLOOMBERG
