China is preparing to “launch a war” against Taiwan, a senior politician from the island nation has warned.
After Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen met with US speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy last week, Beijing conducted military drills around the island as part of what China called a “stern warning” to Taipei.
Following the end of China’s military drills around the island, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu told CNN: “Look at the military exercises, and also their rhetoric - they seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.
“The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it.”
The warning comes amid reports that China is planning to a impose a no-fly zone north of Taiwan next week, Reuters reports.
Yan Yu-hsien, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence from Taiwan’s defence ministry, said the “no-fly zone” would fall within the country’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), about 85 nautical miles north of its shores.
An ADIZ is a section of international airspace countries can arbitrarily define as theirs to monitor.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said he was unaware of the situation.
Earlier on Wednesday, China said Tsai was pushing Taiwan into “stormy seas” after meeting with Mr McCarthy.
China views Tsai as a separatist and has rebuffed repeated calls from her for talks. The Taiwanese president says she wants peace but that her government will defend the island if it is attacked.
“Tsai Ing-wen brought danger to Taiwan. Tsai Ing-wen almost completely sided the United States, pushing Taiwan into stormy seas,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said on Wednesday.
Taiwan split from China following the civil war in 1949. Despite this, the ruling Communist Party has pledged to regain the island.
While the US has no official relations with Taiwan, Washington maintains informal and commercial ties with the island and has agreed multiple arms deals to supply Taipei.
