The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Thursday commenced the second phase of its large-scale military exercises that completely locked down the island of Taiwan, and began to use live fire following the first phase of preparations starting Tuesday evening when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island, seriously violating China's sovereignty, according to Global Times.
Pelosi's visit to the island on Tuesday goes against the US' promise not to support "Taiwan independence" forces on the island, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, said in a statement released on Thursday. "PLA's words count," he said.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command's joint drills around Taiwan island, including live-fire guided precision weapons, are precisely aimed at deterring collusion between the US and the island, Tan said, stressing that any collusion would only push Taiwan island to the abyss of disaster and bring about severe damage to compatriots on the island.
Pelosi, who is now in Tokyo on the final leg of her Asian tour, did not comment directly on the drills but argued that American politicians should be able to travel to Taiwan freely.
"They may try to keep Taiwan from visiting or participating in other places, but they will not isolate Taiwan by preventing us to travel there," she told reporters, NDTV reported.
"We will not allow them to isolate Taiwan," she said, listing lower-level US visits to the island and claiming that her trip was "not about changing the status quo" in the region.
When asked if the trip was more about her own legacy than benefiting Taiwan, Pelosi replied: "This isn't about me -- it's about them."
RHM/PR