China has criticised countries including Japan and Australia for their “irresponsible” criticism of China’s military drills in waters around Taiwan.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said on Wednesday that the drills were “deeply concerning, destabilising and risk inflaming regional tensions”.
“Australia strongly opposes any actions that increase the risk of accident, miscalculation or escalation,” DFAT said in a statement posted on Wednesday.
“Differences should be resolved through dialogue, not by force or coercion. Australia stands firmly against any unilateral attempts to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Maintaining peace and stability is in everyone’s best interest,” the statement emphasized, noting that Australian officials had expressed their concerns to Chinese representatives.
Japan said Wednesday that China’s exercises “increase tensions” across the Taiwan Strait, while the European Union on Tuesday said the military activity “endangers international peace and stability”.
Responding to those remarks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “These countries and institutions are turning a blind eye to the separatist forces in Taiwan attempting to achieve independence through military means.”
“Yet, they are making irresponsible criticisms of China’s necessary and just actions to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, distorting facts and confusing right and wrong, which is utterly hypocritical,” he told reporters at a news briefing.
Taiwan criticized the military exercises, labeling them a threat to regional security and an unmistakable provocation.
According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, the scale of China’s maritime operations has been gradually increasing since the beginning of the week.
Meanwhile, Taiwan remained on high alert on Wednesday, keeping its emergency maritime response centre running as it monitored Chinese naval manoeuvres, the coast guard said.
Currently, there are more than 90 Chinese naval and coast guard vessels in the region, with many of them being deployed in the South China Sea, near Taiwan and the East China Sea in a large maritime show of force, two security officials in the region told Reuters.
The officials, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the size of China’s maritime deployment has steadily increased since early this week.
China is in the middle of what is traditionally a busy season for military exercises.
Taiwan’s defence ministry on Wednesday said 77 Chinese military aircraft and 25 navy and coast guard vessels had been operating around the island in the past 24 hours.
Among them, 35 military planes had crossed the Taiwan Strait median line that separates the two sides, it added.
