Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu claimed on August 9 that Beijing had once surrounded the island with air and sea tactics to prepare for an attack and shift the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.
“China has used drills and its navy’s playbook to attack Taiwan,” Joseph Wu told a press conference in Taipei. “China’s real intention is to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and the entire region.”
The threat to Taiwan from China is “more serious than ever” but the island will resolutely defend its independence and democracy, Wu said in an interview with CNN on August 8. The independent island follows a four-day show of force in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei for a closed week.
Wu brought up that, notwithstanding viable repercussions from Beijing, Taiwan’s effort to thwart China’s attempts to isolate it from the world neighborhood blanketed inviting buddies from abroad to the island.
“(China) cannot dictate to Taiwan that we do not want to welcome everyone who wants to show support for Taiwan,” Wu said.
“China has been constantly threatening Taiwan for years and it has become more serious in the last few years,” Wu said. “Whether or not Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan, the Chinese military opportunity to oppose Taiwan has always been there, and that’s what we have to deal with.”
After days of massive Chinese hostilities drills, Taiwan’s navy conducted a live-fire artillery drill simulating an island defense against attack. Last week, China launched its largest-ever air and naval exercises around Taiwan, in a heated response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s move, the highest-ranking US official to visit the self-governing island in decades.
Taiwan lives under the constant threat of an invasion aided by China, which views its neighbor as part of Chinese territory, to be occupied one day by force if necessary.
