On Saturday, Taiwan referred to China as the “bully next door” as Beijing staged war drills as a severe warning following the island’s vice president’s visit to the US. China reportedly “started joint air and sea patrols and military exercises of the navy and air force around the island of Taiwan” at the time the remark was made.
The People’s Republic of China wants to share Taiwan’s election, but the island’s residents can make their own decisions, the foreign ministry of Taiwan said in a jab at the “bully next door” China on the microblogging site X.
“The #PRC has made it clear that it wants to shape the upcoming national election in #Taiwan,” he stated. The bully next door isn’t going to decide; our citizens will. Look, I’m sure China’s citizens would be happy if it held its own elections.
Taiwan reported on Saturday that since China declared the start of military drills, it had recorded 42 warplane breaches into its air defense zone.
The R.O.C. Armed Forces have identified 42 PLA aircraft since 0900 (UTC 8) today (Aug. 19), 26 of which have crossed the Taiwan Strait median line (KJ-500, Y-9, J-10, J-11, J-16, SU-30, etc.). Furthermore, the PLA aircraft and 8 PLAN boats performed a coordinated combat patrol, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense on X.
“The R.O.C. Armed Forces are closely monitoring the situation with our ISR system and have deployed CAP aircraft, naval vessels, and land-based missile systems in response,” it continued.
Taiwan had earlier in the day issued a statement regarding Vice President William Lai’s “stopover” in the US. Soon after, a representative of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Saturday denounced the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of Taiwan’s “provocative move” to further cooperate with the US.
In addition to denouncing William Lai, the official said that his actions have shown that he is a flagrant troublemaker who will push Taiwan to the precipice of conflict and cause serious problems for his compatriots in Taiwan. The official said, “We are willing to make plenty of ground for peaceful reunification, but we will not allow any opportunity for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist operations in any way.
