Arizona governor latest American official to visit Taiwan

TAIPEI • The governor of the US state of Arizona, Mr Doug Ducey, arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a three-day visit, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said.

Mr Ducey, a Republican, is the latest in a succession of officials from the United States to visit Taiwan this month, defying pressure from China against such trips.

During his visit, Mr Ducey will meet Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and representatives from the island's semiconductor industry.

The world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, is building a US$12 billion (S$16.7 billion) plant in Arizona.

China - which regards Taiwan as a renegade province awaiting reunification with the mainland, by force if necessary - has carried out military exercises around the island following the string of US dignitary trips to Taiwan that started with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit on Aug 2.

News of the latest US visit came after Ms Tsai yesterday warned that the island's restraint in the face of China's "provocations" did not mean it would not take "strong countermeasures" if needed.

"I want to tell everyone that the more the enemy provokes, the more calm we must be," Ms Tsai told naval officers as she visited front-line forces at a major air and naval base on the Penghu islands in the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

"We will not provoke disputes, and we will exercise self-restraint, but it does not mean that we will not counter."

The President condemned Beijing for its drills and intimidation.

No shots have been fired, but Taiwan has been particularly upset recently by Chinese drones flying very close to islands that it controls next to China's coast, which Ms Tsai said was part of Beijing's "grey zone" warfare.

The warships and fighter jets based at Penghu have been going out armed with live ammunition since China began its exercises this month, officers said.

Frigate captain Lee Kuang-ping said they had been trading radio warnings with Chinese warships.

"Sometimes near the drill zone, communist Chinese fishing boats appear, and they provocatively say 'hit them, hit them!'" Mr Lee said.

The Chinese military unit responsible for the area adjacent to Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command, on Aug 15 released a video of the Penghu islands, apparently taken by China's air force.

Taiwan's military termed the video information warfare, saying it was not true that Chinese forces had ventured near the islands.

REUTERS