The visit to Taiwan of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, generates tension in Asia this Tuesday (2), with the Americans and China announcing military maneuvers in the region. Russia, in turn, expressed support for the communist dictatorship.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense announced a series of “targeted military manoeuvres” to “respond” to the visit to Taiwan by the Democratic lawmaker, informed the official newspaper Global Times.
The ministry explained this Tuesday that these operations aim to “decidedly defend the national sovereignty and territorial integrity” of China.
The Eastern Theater of Operations of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (Chinese Army), quoted by the same newspaper, announced the organization of military maneuvers, both sea and air, in the north, southwest and southeast of Taiwan, which would start later this Tuesday. .
Likewise, the official Xinhua news agency announced “important” military exercises by Chinese forces, which in this case will last from Thursday to Sunday in five areas around the island of Taiwan.
The maneuvers, according to Xinhua, will involve practices with live ammunition and will include the closure of maritime and air space in these areas.
American reaction
In turn, American authorities have informed that they will increase military maneuvers in the Indus region -Pacific during Pelosi’s visit.
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and her strike group were in the Philippine Sea on Monday, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to Reuters, during discussions about military operations. Also according to the agency, after the Reagan, the cruiser USS Antietam and the destroyer USS Higgins left Singapore after passing through the local port and moved north, to their home port in Japan.
In a statement issued just minutes after Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a “strong condemnation” and accused the US of “undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “destabilizing the Taiwan Strait.” .
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs interpreted Pelosi’s visit as a breach of the US commitment to limit its contacts with Taiwan to “unofficial relations” and reiterated that China “has always opposed for US congressmen to visit Taiwan”, actions that, according to Beijing, “the US government has a responsibility to prevent”.
As the Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping, had warned the US president, Joe Biden, in last week’s conversation, the Ministry of es Exteriores warned: “Those who play with fire will end up getting burned. Pelosi’s visit, however, is a major political provocation,” the statement concluded.
Pelosi arrived in Taipei on Tuesday after a seven-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during which she avoided crossing the waters of the South China Sea.
Neither Pelosi nor the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously confirmed whether Pelosi’s trip to Asia would include a visit to Taiwan, a possibility anticipated by the American and Taiwanese press.
Upon arrival, Pelosi declared on Twitter that her visit “honors the US’s unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.”
Republican support and Russian hostility
China claims sovereignty over the island and has considered Taiwan a rebellious province since the Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in
, after losing the civil war against the communists.
Taiwan, with which the United States has no official relations, is one of the main main sources of conflict between China and the US, mainly because Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant. In recent months, the island has been visited by US congressmen.
This Tuesday, 26 GOP lawmakers signed a declaration of support for Pelosi, claiming that US congressional visits to Taiwan are “routine.”
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, criticized Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. “The United States is a provocative state,” she said. “Russia reiterates the principle of ‘one China’ and opposes the island’s independence in any form.”