China to begin military drills encircling Taiwan, Pakistan chimes in

From cyberattacks to military drills, Taiwan is witnessing heightened activity in and around the self-ruled island as tensions with China rise following the visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

China announced a series of sanctions on Taiwan and vowed a “resolute, forceful and effective” action in response to Pelosi’s trip. It is set to kick off its largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan, some of the world’s busiest waterways.

Here are the latest updates from Pelosi’s Taiwan visit:

China is expected to begin its 4-day military exercises at 9.30am IST (0400 GMT) which will involve “training activities including live-fire drills”, according to an announcement in state media. It will take place in multiple zones encircling Taiwan and will conclude at midday on Sunday.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday its website was subject to cyber attacks and went offline temporarily, days after several of its government websites suffered similar attacks. Taiwan claimed that some of them were launched by China and Russia.

The Group of Seven advanced economies condemned the announced military drills, saying “there is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait”. It stressed that China’s “escalatory response risks increasing tensions and destabilising the region.”

Two unidentified aircraft, probably drones, flew Wednesday night above the area of Taiwan’s Kinmen islands, said the defence ministry, adding that it fired flares to drive them away. Major General Chang Zone-sung said that the Chinese drones came in a pair and flew into the Kinmen area twice on Wednesday night, reported Reuters.

Beijing’s all-weather “friend” Pakistan has expressed its support for the ‘One-China’ policy. Pakistan foreign office wrote, “Pakistan is deeply concerned over the evolving situation in the Taiwan Strait, which has serious implications for regional peace and stability.”