By RFA Staff
TAIPEI, Taiwan – China has increased incursions by its aircraft and warships in the Taiwan Strait with 59 sorties reported from Monday evening to Tuesday morning, as it repeated warnings against any “external interference” on the “Taiwan question.”
Taiwan’s ministry of defense said 43 of the sorties crossed the median line in the strait, which has long served as the de-facto boundary between the self-governed island and the mainland.
Besides fighter jets, a number of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, were deployed, as well as two balloons.
Taiwan’s armed forces “closely monitor maritime and aerial activities,” and are conducting joint operations to track and respond to Chinese incursions, the island’s ministry said.
Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that needs to be “reunified” with China, by force if necessary.
China has waged a campaign against what it sees as “separatist” efforts by Taiwan and warned other countries against “meddling in the Taiwan issue.”
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Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press briefing on Monday that Beijing “firmly opposes official interaction of any form between China’s Taiwan region and countries having diplomatic ties with China.”
“The Taiwan question is at the core of China’s core interests, which brooks no external interference,” Mao said, repeating a long-held position.
“The government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China,” the spokeswoman said. “Taiwan is never a country, not in the past, and never in the future.”
China often steps up incursions and warnings in response to visits to the island by U.S. legislators, or visits overseas by the island’s leader, but there was no obvious factor being this week’s activity apart from recent diplomatic efforts by Taiwan to reinforce cooperation with “like-minded” countries and democracies.
Taiwan immediately dismissed the Chinese spokesperson’s comments.
“Such clichés that contradict the facts, reverse right and wrong, and go against the will of the 23.5 million Taiwanese people are not worth refuting,” the island’s foreign ministry said.
The ministry reiterated its position that Taiwan is “a sovereign and independent country.”
“China has no right to interfere in the exercise of any legitimate rights of a sovereign state,” it said.
Foreign ministers of the Group 7 world’s most developed countries emphasized at a meeting last week “the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
The ministers reiterated in a statement their opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.
Edited by Mike Firn.