China threat remains, says Taiwan President

TAIPEI • China's threat of force is undiminished, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said yester-day, even though Beijing's largest-ever military drills around the island seemed to be scaling down after the Chinese military said it had "completed various tasks" around Taiwan.

Furious at a visit to Taiwan last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China launched ballistic missiles and deployed multiple aircraft and warships in recent days to simulate sea and air attacks.

China said on Wednesday it would keep up patrols, but had "completed various tasks" around Taiwan, signalling a possible end to the war games, even while keeping up pressure.

China sees Taiwan as a renegade province which needs to be reunified, by force if necessary.

Taiwan has also been conducting relatively small-scale annual exercises, scheduled before the flare-up and aimed at preparing to repel an invasion.

"At present, the threat of Chinese military force has not decreased," Ms Tsai told air force officers, according to a statement from her office.

Taiwan will not escalate conflict or provoke disputes, her office quoted her as saying, adding: "We will firmly defend our sovereignty and national security, and adhere to the line of defence of democracy and freedom."

A source briefed on the matter said that the number of Chinese warships close to the Taiwan Strait's median line - an unofficial buffer - was greatly reduced from previous days.

But several Chinese navy ships were conducting missions off Taiwan's east coast and near Japan's Yonaguni Island yesterday, said the source, who is familiar with security planning. Yonaguni is the Japanese island closest to Taiwan, about 100km away.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in a statement yesterday it had detected 21 Chinese military aircraft and six Chinese navy ships in and around the Taiwan Strait, of which 11 planes had crossed the median line.

That was down from the 36 aircraft and 10 ships detected the previous day, when 17 aircraft crossed the median line.

Taiwan's democratically elected government says the People's Republic of China has never governed the island and so has no right to decide its future or claim it for itself. Taiwan's official name is the Republic of China.

In the face of China's recent military provocations, Ms Tsai said the armed forces "are right on the front lines, and their duties will only be more onerous and the pressure will be even greater".

China's military did not make any new comment on its activities around Taiwan yesterday.

However, the two sides continued their war of words, with Taiwan reiterating a rejection of China's proposed "one country, two systems" model for bringing the island under Beijing's control.

Only Taiwan's people can decide its future, the island's Foreign Ministry spokesman Joanne Ou told a news conference in Taipei.

China was using Mrs Pelosi's visit to Taipei as an "excuse to create a new normality to intimidate Taiwan's people", said Ms Ou.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that "reunification" was inevitable one day.

"We are willing to create a wide space for peaceful reunification, but we will never leave any room for all forms of secessionist activities for Taiwan independence."

REUTERS