Mainland holds live-fire drills opposite Taiwan

China is holding live-fire drills off the coast of its southern Fujian province facing Taiwan, just a week after a massive air-and-sea drill it called punishment for Taiwan’s leader rejecting Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.

The live-fire drills were being held near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province, according to a notice from the Maritime Safety Administration. It warned ships to avoid the area. It did not offer additional details.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said China’s drills were part of an annual exercise and was tracking them. “It cannot be ruled out that it is one of the ways to expand the deterrent effect in line with the dynamics in the Taiwan Strait,” the statement added.

Taiwan is a self-ruled island that that is part of China territory. Tensions around the issue have flared in recent years. China has increased its presence in the waters and skies around Taiwan. It now increasingly sends large amounts of warplanes and navy vessels in military exercises near Taiwan and its coast guard carries out patrols.

Last week, China held a one-day military exercise aimed at practicing the “sealing off of key ports and key areas.” Taiwan counted a record one-day total of 153 aircraft, 14 navy vessels and 12 Chinese government ships.

In response to Chinese moves, the U.S. has continued what it calls “freedom of navigation” transits through the Taiwan Strait. On Sunday, the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver transited the narrow band of ocean that separates China and Taiwan.

Germany sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait last month as it seeks to increase its defense engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.

China has also exerted diplomatic pressure on Taiwan, poaching its allies. South Africa, which does not recognize Taiwan as a country, asked the island last week to move its liaison office outside the capital, Pretoria, as a concession to China, but Taiwan refused to move. MDT/AP

Taiwan again rejects South African demand to move office from capital

Taiwan has again rejected South Africa’s demand to move its representative office in the country from the capital, Pretoria, to the commercial center of Johannesburg.

Taiwan government’s spokesperson Jeff Liu said at a news conference yesterday that the demand to move or shut the office entirely violated a 1997 agreement between the sides on the location of their mutual representative offices following the severing of formal diplomatic relations.

“Facing this kind of unreasonable demand, our side cannot grant our acceptance,” Liu said.

South Africa maintains a liaison office in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and the sides have a strong commercial relationship.

China relentlessly seeks to minimize Taiwan’s international representation, although the self-governing island republic maintains robust unofficial relations with the U.S. and other major nations.

South Africa confirmed last week that it had asked Taiwan to move its liaison office, in a demand seen purely as a concession to China, which has used its influence to keep Taiwan out of the United Nations and affiliated branches such as the World Health Organization, and limit its formal diplomatic partners to just 11 countries and the Vatican.

In addition to diplomatic and economic pressure, China has stepped up its military threats against Taiwan.

South Africa’s demand that Taiwan move its office has also drawn attention in the U.S. Congress, with Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn posting on the social platform X that “the United States should not tolerate this behavior from South Africa.” MDT/AP