Beijing responds to Taiwan VP’s U.S. trip with military drills
Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te made a stopover in the U.S. last week. His trip was intentionally low-profile, but it nonetheless angered Beijing.
China launched military exercises around Taiwan on August 19 as a “stern warning” to separatist forces in response to presidential front-runner and Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德 Lài Qīngdé) “stopover” visits to the U.S.
Lai had made brief transit stops in New York and San Francisco last week on his way to and from the inauguration of the new president of Paraguay, one of Taiwan’s last remaining diplomatic allies. He was purposefully low-key, more so than former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August or Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文 Cài Yīngwén) meeting with incumbent House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles in April.
Much like after the previous trips, however, Beijing launched large-scale military exercises in response. On Saturday, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sent “destroyers, frigates, missile boats, fighters, early warning aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, and conventional missile units,” state-run nationalist tabloid Global Times said on Twitter, with an accompanying video.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it detected eight Chinese warships and 42 military aircraft, 26 of which entered Taiwan’s air-defense identification zone (ADIZ), the unofficial barrier between the two militaries.
The PLA called the drills a “serious warning against the provocation of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces colluding with external forces.”
China has also suspended imports of Taiwan mangoes, saying that Planococcus Minor mealybug pests were found in the fruit, though some critics have called it another attempt at Beijing’s “fruit diplomacy.”
Lai is the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) handpicked successor to President Tsai. With the election coming up in January, Lai is currently leading the polls. He is particularly disliked by Beijing. As Reuters points out, “China believes Lai to be a separatist for his previous comments about being a ‘worker’ for Taiwan independence, though Lai says that as the Republic of China they are already an independent country.”
Beijing’s preferred candidate is the Nationalist Party’s Hou You-ih (侯友宜 Hóu Yǒuyí), who is currently polling third, behind Lai and Taiwan People’s Party’s Ko Wen-je (柯文哲 Kē Wénzhé).
As election day nears, Beijing is expected to ramp up its influence campaign. Its “fruit diplomacy” has already resulted in bans on imports of a variety of Taiwanese products. Taiwan officials have also publicly warned against Chinese influence campaign tactics that are much more subtle than war jets.
As for its response to Beijing’s drills, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted this barb:
The #PRC has made it clear it wants to shape #Taiwan’s coming national election. Well, it’s up to our citizens to decide, not the bully next door. Look, #China should hold its own elections; I’m sure its people would be thrilled.
