Taiwan says it will seek help to stop Beijing’s military expansion

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says real motive behind PLA exercises stretches ‘far beyond Taiwan’

It is critical that ‘freedom-loving nations’ work together to respond to ‘expansion of authoritarianism’, he says

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Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu speaks at a press conference on Tuesday. Photo: CNA

Published: 3:30pm, 9 Aug 2022Updated: 3:43pm, 9 Aug 2022

Taiwan would seek international help to stop Beijing from intimidating Taipei and expanding its military in the region and beyond, the island’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said the real motive behind the People’s Liberation Army’s exercises was much broader than military drills against the island.

“Although China seems to be targeting Taiwan now, its activities around the world have shown that its motivation is far beyond Taiwan,” he said in a news conference in Taipei.

The PLA kicked off four days of large-scale live-fire drills on Thursday, soon after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in an unannounced trip last week.

Second in line for the US presidency, Pelosi became the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Her whirlwind visit enraged Beijing, which sees the island as part of its territory and the trip as a major violation of its sovereignty.

In addition to sending ballistic missiles over Taiwan, it also sent warships and warplanes to cross the median line that separates the island and the mainland in the Taiwan Strait – an act seen as breaching a long-time tacit understanding that neither side would cross the line to avoid unintended incidents.

Wu said that by using Pelosi’s visit as an excuse to stage war games, Beijing was “determined to link the East and South China seas through the Taiwan Strait so the entire area becomes its internal waters”.

“And its intentions are not likely to stop there, as the PLA has crossed the first island chain multiple times to conduct military exercises in recent years,” he said.