China set to begin effective Taiwan blockade hours after Nancy Pelosi concludes visit

Unprecedented live-fire drills encircling the island will block flights and shipping as analysts predict further punitive measures
The US House Speaker’s visit was seen by Beijing as a ‘malicious’ provocation but she said it was necessary to show solidarity with the island


Published: 12:00am, 4 Aug, 2022


China is set to launch an unprecedented military drill that effectively blockades Taiwan until Sunday afternoon following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.

During her brief stay Pelosi met President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior politicians as well as human rights activists, before flying on to South Korea on Wednesday afternoon.

Her visit to the island, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province, has plunged the China-US relationship to new depths and triggered the worst crisis over the Taiwan Strait for decades.

Beijing saw the trip as an explicit provocation and a move to embolden the island’s independence-leaning government.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi lashed out at the visit, saying it “maliciously violated China’s sovereignty” and proved that the US was the “biggest destroyer of peace and regional stability in the Taiwan Strait”.

Beijing followed the condemnation with a slew of punitive measures against Taiwan, including live-drills in six areas around the island’s coastline that will run between noon on Thursday and the same time on Sunday.

Airlines operating in Asia were warned to avoid flying close to Taiwan during the exercise with ships being told to stay away from the “danger zones”.

Pelosi, second in the line of succession to the presidency, is the highest-level American politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years, defying repeated protests from China.
Pelosi expects Taiwan trip to encourage other foreign visitors

During her stay in Taiwan, she held talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, legislature deputy speaker Tsai Chi-chang, vice-president William Lai and other senior officials.

She also met a former student leader from the 1989 Tiananmen protests, a Hong Kong bookseller who fled to Taiwan after allegedly being kidnapped by mainland agents and a Taiwanese activist who was recently released from a mainland prison.

During the meeting with Tsai, Pelosi said her visit – on which she was accompanied by five members of Congress – was to show “American solidarity to Taiwan” and make it “unequivocally clear we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan”.

“America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad,” she said.

Tsai presented Pelosi with a civilian honour, the Order of the Propitious Clouds, and vowed that Taiwan would not back down in the face of military threats from the mainland.

“Military exercises are unnecessary responses. Taiwan has always been open to constructive dialogue, and we will work with stakeholders to bring about stability and peace in the region,” Tsai said.

“We will firmly uphold our sovereignty and continue to hold the line of defence for democracy.”

Addressing the media, Pelosi said Beijing could not stand in the way of visits by other members of the US legislature. She was non-committal about inviting Tsai to Capitol Hill but said “I would hope that opportunity will be there”.

In response to the visit, the Chinese foreign ministry summoned US Ambassador Nicholas Burns late on Tuesday, while Ma Xiaoguang, the spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, lashed out at Tsai and her ruling Democratic Progressive Party, saying they were “pushing the island into the abyss of disaster”.

He vowed that China would bring those pushing for Taiwan independence to justice.

According to Taiwan’s defence ministry, the People’s Liberation Army sent 27 planes close to Taiwan on Wednesday, with 22 crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and five entering the southern part of the island’s air identification zone. These flight paths include two of the areas where the live-fire drills will take place.

Beijing is expected to unleash more punitive measures in the coming days, with military analysts predicting that the PLA will conduct more regular operations within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of Taiwan’s coast – an area it views as its territorial waters.