US playing with fire over Taiwan, Beijing warns, as US Congress team pledges support for island in event of PLA attack

Name: Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine
Uploaded: 2022-04-15T06:23:22.000Z
Duration: 2 min 20 s
Description: Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine

‘Sneaky’ trip seriously violated one-China principle, Beijing’s defence ministry says, as PLA launches air and sea drills in ‘counteraction’

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Members of the US Congressional delegation with President Tsai Ing-wen and other Taiwanese officials at the Presidential Office in Taipei. Photo: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP

Lawrence Chung

Published: 2:23pm, 15 Apr 2022Updated: 8:38pm, 15 Apr 2022

Beijing has warned the US against playing with fire over Taiwan, calling the latest visit by Congress delegates to the self-ruled island a deliberate provocation that disregarded strong opposition from mainland China.

The warning came after a six-member group of high-profile US lawmakers – five senators and a House representative – made an unannounced trip to Taiwan to express both bipartisan and the White House’s support for the island in the event of an attack from the People’s Liberation Army.

“Taiwan is an inseparable part of the territory of China and any intervention by any outside [force] is intolerable,” Beijing’s defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement on Friday.

Labelling the group’s visit “sneaky and scuttling”, Wu said it “seriously violated the one-China principle and the three joint communiques” underscoring US-China relations. It also seriously damaged the political trust basis between the two sides, sent a wrong signal to separatist forces in Taiwan, and further escalated cross-strait tensions, he added.

As the US lawmakers visited Taiwan, the PLA Eastern Theatre Command on Friday launched extensive naval and air exercises around the island, involving frigates, bombers and fighter jets. Beijing said the staging of the war games aimed to highlight its warnings to both the US and Taiwan against what it sees as attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

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Heightened tensions in Taiwan amid Russian invasion of Ukraine

Wu said the joint drills and patrols were “necessary action” to uphold the sovereignty of China in response to the recent situation in the strait.

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