Asean urges ‘maximum restraint’ as China holds war games after Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip

Name: Mainland Chinese fighters and warships head to Taiwan Strait for live-fire drills
Uploaded: 2022-08-04T06:13:40.000Z
Duration: 1 min 33 s
Description: Mainland Chinese fighters and warships head to Taiwan Strait for live-fire drills

Beijing has mobilised an unprecedented military drill that will run until Sunday afternoon in response to the US official’s visit to Taipei

Amid heightened tensions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi walked out before the start of a gala dinner in Cambodia attended by his US and Japanese counterparts

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A Chinese military helicopter flies past Pingtan island, one of mainland China’s closest point from Taiwan, on August 4, 2022. Photo: AFP

Joseph Sipalanin Kuala Lumpur

Published: 2:13pm, 4 Aug 2022Updated: 1:48am, 5 Aug 2022

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has called for “maximum restraint”, as China escalates its response to what it described as a provocative move by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit Taiwan earlier this week.

On Thursday, China mobilised an unprecedented military drill that will run until Sunday afternoon, setting up live-fire zones in six areas surrounding the self-ruled island. It also issued warnings to airlines to avoid flying close to Taiwan and for ships to stay away from “danger zones”.

Highlighting the raised tensions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi walked out before the start of a gala dinner in Cambodia attended by his US counterpart, Reuters reported, citing witnesses who saw the top diplomat leaving the venue in a vehicle.

Wang waved to journalists as he entered a holding room for the event then departed without giving a reason, Reuters reported. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other foreign ministers, including Japan’s Yoshimasa Hayashi, attended the dinner, along with senior Asean diplomats.

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Mainland Chinese fighters and warships head to Taiwan Strait for live-fire drills

Asean is hosting a meeting of 27 countries in Phnom Penh, but Wang and Blinken will not meet each other one-on-one in Cambodia, and talks between Wang and Hayashi were scrapped after the G7 issued a statement urging Beijing to resolve tension over Taiwan peacefully.

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