TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Legislative Yuan and its speaker on Tuesday (April 11) condemned Chinese military exercises around Taiwan as "barbaric actions," which they said "seriously threatened regional peace and security."
Taiwan's Legislative Yuan issued a bipartisan statement condemning the PLA's military drills. The legislators said that the Chinese government had used Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) visit to allied countries and the U.S. as an "excuse" to conduct large-scale military maneuvers around Taiwan, "undermining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, raising regional tensions, and seriously undermining the international order."
On behalf of Taiwan's 23 million citizens, the legislature said it "solemnly condemns and protests" the Chinese government's actions and demanded that Chinese authorities "immediately stop their military intimidation of our country." The lawmakers said it has been a standard diplomatic practice for the Taiwan president to visit allies and transit through the U.S.
From Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to Tsai, the legislators said there have been 51 such visits. They accused Beijing of using the military exercises as a "means to prevent the diplomacy of the head of state of our country, which has repeatedly hurt the feelings of the people of Taiwan, seriously threatened regional peace and security, and violated the most basic principles of the U.N. Charter."
The lawmakers emphasized that Taiwan "is a sovereign and independent country" and this has been the status quo on both sides of the Taiwan Strait for many years. "The people and government of Taiwan have the right to conduct normal exchanges with other countries and make contributions to the international community through international participation," wrote the legislators.
The representatives stressed that Chinese authorities have "no right to obstruct, nor can they change the strong will of the Taiwanese people to go out into the world." The legislature then thanked "international friends" for their long-term concern and support.
The statement closed by issuing a "solemn protest" against the Chinese military exercises and called on the international community to jointly condemn the "barbaric actions of the Chinese authorities."
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) posted the statement on his Facebook page. He thanked Taiwan's international allies and echoed the legislators' statement.
You also reiterated that although the economy is important, universal values such as "freedom, equality, and universal love" must be adhered to, and he called on democratic allies to stand firmly with Taiwan.
In response to the meeting between President Tsai and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command completed three days of military exercises around Taiwan dubbed "Joint Sword." From Saturday to Monday (April 10), China deployed 232 military aircraft and 32 naval vessels in and around Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), while also conducting live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait.
