Military drills ‘preparation for invasion’ says minister

China used its military drills last week to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan and its anger over US speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit was just an excuse, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu said, as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continued with military exercises and Taiwan started its own live-fire drills.

“China has used the drills in its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” Wu said. “It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyber-attacks, disinformation and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan.”

Wu said the activities would have taken longer to prepare than if it were a response to Pelosi’s visit, and China’s tactics, including the firing of ballistic missiles, were “clearly trying to deter other countries from interfering in its attempt to invade Taiwan”, and also showed that it had much broader geostrategic intentions.

Beijing has declared ownership of the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.