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BEIJING , 8 Aug (AP) \u2014 China said Monday it is extending threatening military exercises surrounding Taiwan that have disrupted shipping and air traffic and substantially raised concerns about the potential for conflict in a region crucial to global trade.<\/p>\n
The announcement further increases uncertainty in the crisis that developed last week with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to Taiwan.<\/p>\n
The exercises will include anti-submarine drills, apparently targeting U.S. support for Taiwan in the event of a potential Chinese invasion, according to social media posts from the eastern leadership of China\u2019s ruling Communist Party\u2019s military arm, the People\u2019s Liberation Army.<\/p>\n
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and its leader, Xi Jinping, has focused on bringing the self-governing island democracy under the mainland\u2019s control, by force if necessary. The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing considers visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognizing its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Xi is seeking a third term as Communist Party leader later this year. His control over the armed forces and what he has defined as China\u2019s \u201ccore interests\u201d \u2014 including Taiwan, territorial claims in the South China Sea and historic adversary Japan \u2014 are key to maintaining his nationalist credentials.<\/p>\n
The military has said the exercises, involving missile strikes, warplanes and ship movements crossing the midline of the Taiwan Strait dividing the sides, are a response to Pelosi\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
China has ignored calls to calm the tensions, and there was no immediate indication of when it would end what amounts to a blockade.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China would \u201cfirmly safeguard China\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity, resolutely deter the U.S. from containing China with the Taiwan issue and resolutely shatter the Taiwan authorities\u2019 illusion of \u201crelying on the U.S. for independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked in Dover, Delaware, on Monday about China\u2019s response to Pelosi\u2019s visit, U.S. President Joe Biden said: \u201cI\u2019m not worried, but I\u2019m concerned they\u2019re moving as much as they are. But I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to do anything more than they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s slowing economic growth, which has reduced options among migrant workers as well as college graduates, has raised the specter of social unrest. The party has maintained its power through total control of the press and social media, along with suppression of political opponents, independent lawyers and activists working on issues from online free speech to LGBQT rights.<\/p>\n
China doesn\u2019t allow public opinion polls, and popular opinion is hard to judge. However, it generally skews in favor of the government and its efforts to restore China\u2019s former dominant role in the region that puts it in conflict with the United States and its allies, including Japan and Australia.<\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s defense ministry said Sunday it detected a total of 66 aircraft and 14 warships conducting the naval and air exercises. The island has responded by putting its military on alert and deploying ships, planes and other assets to monitor Chinese aircraft, ships and drones that are \u201csimulating attacks on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Taiwan\u2019s official Central News Agency reported that Taiwan\u2019s army will conduct live-fire artillery drills in southern Pingtung county on Tuesday and Thursday, in response to the Chinese exercises.<\/p>\n
The drills will include snipers, combat vehicles, armored vehicles as well as attack helicopters, said the report, which cited an anonymous source.<\/p>\n
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has called on the international community to \u201csupport democratic Taiwan\u201d and \u201chalt any escalation of the regional security situation.\u201d The Group of Seven industrialized nations has also criticized China\u2019s actions, prompting Beijing to cancel a meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi.<\/p>\n
China has cut off defense and climate talks with the U.S. and imposed sanctions on Pelosi in retaliation for her visit.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia over the weekend that Pelosi\u2019s visit was peaceful and did not represent a change in American policy toward Taiwan. He accused China of using the trip as a \u201cpretext to increase provocative military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Biden administration and Pelosi say the U.S. remains committed to the \u201cone-China\u201d policy that extends formal diplomatic recognition to Beijing while allowing robust informal relations and defense ties with Taipei.<\/p>\n
The U.S., however, criticized Beijing\u2019s actions in the Taiwan Strait, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling them \u201cfundamentally irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no need and no reason for this escalation,\u201d Jean-Pierre said.<\/p>\n
In Washington, Taiwanese de facto ambassador Bi-khim Hsiao said China had no reason to \u201cbe so furious\u201d over Pelosi\u2019s visit, which follows a long tradition of American lawmakers visiting Taiwan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, you know, we have been living under the threat from China for decades,\u201d Hsiao told CBS News on Sunday. \u201cIf you have a kid being bullied at school, you don\u2019t say you don\u2019t go to school. You try to find a way to deal with the bully.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risks are posed by Beijing,\u201d Hsiao said.<\/p>\n
On a visit to Myanmar, whose Chinese-backed military government has been accused of murdering its opponents, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington was \u201ctaking the opportunity to build up its military deployment in the region, which deserves high vigilance and resolute boycott from all sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChina\u2019s firm stance\u201d is aimed at \u201cearnestly safeguarding peace across the Taiwan Strait and regional stability,\u201d Wang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong called for a cooling of tensions. \u201cAustralia continues to urge restraint, Australia continues to urge deescalation, and this is not something that solely Australia is calling for, and the whole region is concerned about the current situation, the whole region is calling for stability to be restored,\u201d Wong told reporters in Canberra.<\/p>\n
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