Tsai Ing-wen says Beijing’s military exercises, which simulated an invasion, posed a risk to peace and stability.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has condemned China for its three-day military exercises around the self-governed island. He said they were irresponsible and a threat to regional stability.
Beijing on Monday wrapped up its war games, which simulated strikes on the territory of 23 million people.
The exercises began after Tsai returned home from a visit to Central America, where she made two US stops and a high-profile meeting with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy.
Tsai, portrayed as a “separatist” by China, said visits to friendly countries were a “long-term practice” and expected by the people of Taiwan.
“China is using this to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region. This is not a responsible attitude for a major country in the region,” she wrote on her Facebook page late Monday evening.
Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and does not rule out the use of force to take control of the island.
The latest exercises simulated attacks on Taiwan and, according to a state media report, dozens of aircraft had practiced an “air blockade”.
The exercise “extensively tested the integrated joint combat capability of multiple military branches under actual combat conditions,” China’s People’s Liberation Army Eastern Command said in a statement.
The exercises did not appear to be on the same scale as the military activities that followed then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August, but also drew a rebuke from Japan.
Its southernmost islands are close to Taiwan, while it also hosts a major US Air Force base on Okinawa.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada described the exercises as “intimidating training” to seize sea and air control around the island, the Reuters news agency reported. China appeared to have shown an “uncompromising attitude” to Taiwanese issues during the exercises, Hamada added.
Beijing has been mounting pressure on Taiwan since Tsai was first elected president in 2016.
Her visit to Central America included trips to Guatemala and Belize, Taipei’s remaining formal allies in the region after Honduras announced its move to Beijing last month.
Tsai, who says it is up to the Taiwanese people to decide their future, has previously accused Beijing of “dollar diplomacy.”
Despite this, the island’s government maintains strong informal ties with many governments and has welcomed a flood of legislators from countries such as the US, UK and the Czech Republic.
In 2021, it opened a de facto embassy in Lithuania, the first in Europe in 18 years, drawing the ire of Beijing.