Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday that her people remain committed to defending the island, weeks after major military maneuvers by China.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait recently reached their highest level in years during the unprecedented military exercises organized by Beijing in response to the visit to Taipei in early August by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
Tensions at the highest level
Tsai made the statement during a meeting with a delegation of visiting American scholars on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of China’s campaign of artillery fire on the small island of Kinmen, known as the “823 Bombardment”. “.
“This battle to protect our homeland has shown the world that no threat whatsoever can shake the resolve of the Taiwanese people to defend their nation, not in the past, not today, not in the future. “said the president.
A country under threat
The People’s Liberation Army fired 470,000 shells into Kinmen and nearby islets in 1958, killing at least 618 people in a campaign that lasted forty-four days. Kinmen now belongs to Taiwan, but is only two kilometers east of the Chinese city of Xiamen.
Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China, which sees the democratically ruled island as one of its provinces doomed to return to its fold, by force if necessary.
Beijing likely
Beijing is irritated by each diplomatic act advancing towards an official recognition of the island and each visit of Western political leaders arouses its anger.
In the week following Pelosi’s visit, China sent warships, ballistic missiles and fighter jets to Taiwan’s waters and skies.
Taipei has accused Beijing of using the recent trip by Pelosi, the most senior US elected official to visit in decades, as a pretext to begin maneuvers that would allow him to hold a rehearsal for a invasion.