On the occasion of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Keith Krach’s weekend visit to Taiwan, Chinese PLA military aircraft conducted multiple sorties over the centerline of the Taiwan Sea for two consecutive days. On September 19, the Chinese KMT responded to a previous statement by the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office that it opposes any military action by the Chinese Communist Party that poses a threat to Taiwan and should renounce the use of force to violate Taiwan’s sovereignty. KMT Party Chairman Jiang Qichen also called for the two governments to resume dialogue as soon as possible.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense disclosed on Saturday that following Saturday’s invasion of Taiwan’s airspace by 18 PLA warplanes, some of which crossed the centerline of the strait, 19 more warplanes were sent to disturb Taiwan today. Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Air Force immediately took emergency measures, dispatching air patrol planes to lift off, broadcast the dispersal and chase down the aircraft with anti-aircraft missiles. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said at a press conference on June 16 that the PLA’s combat training activities were necessary to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty. In response to this, the KMT issued a press release on Saturday evening stating that it cannot agree with this statement at all.
The KMT said it opposes any military action by the CPC that poses a threat to Taiwan, which not only threatens Taiwan’s security and increases the risk of cross-strait fire, but also undermines stability and peace in the East Asian region, and is completely unnecessary. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait should take the peaceful resolution of disputes as the highest principle, and use exchanges and dialogue to resolve differences.
According to the KMT, the possibility of conflict in the Taiwan Strait is increasing, which is absolutely related to the Chinese Communist Party’s refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, and it calls on the Chinese Communist Party to renounce the use of force against Taiwan in order to build up mutual trust between the two sides. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government lacks the ability to respond effectively to days of military provocations by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military. In addition to monitoring by the national army, the DPP government should find ways to reduce cross-strait tensions through political means so as not to expose the Taiwanese population to the risk of war.
Also on this topic, Chiang wrote on Facebook, “Faced with the reality that the U.S. side often shows goodwill toward Taiwan, while the Communist military is increasingly hostile, we are pleased to see the escalation and deepening of relations between Taiwan and the U.S., but are still worried about the deterioration of the situation across the Taiwan Strait. He said, “In the face of such changes, we would like to warn the Communist Party once again that excessive drills and intrusions will only push the hearts and minds of the people of Taiwan further away. It is more likely to push cross-strait relations to the brink of irreversible deterioration or even war. We would also like to remind the Ministry of National Defense that it should be closely prepared for the war and properly respond to the situation, but also to avoid a shoot-out.”
Jiang Qichen continued, “We also lament that it has become increasingly difficult to accumulate goodwill across the Taiwan Strait. Many unnecessary political maneuvers during the epidemic, the intensification of Internet rhetoric, and the political demands of the U.S. election have hardened cross-Strait contacts, both civil and official, towards confrontation and even animosity. Those who are willing to play a communication role are stigmatized, and those who call for war are treated as heroes. Such an atmosphere is definitely not conducive to the peaceful and stable development of the Taiwan Strait.” He said, “We are even more concerned that, compared to the two cross-Strait military crises in 1996 and 1999, public opinion in Taiwan is generally indifferent or apathetic toward the Communist military exercises. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, based on political calculations, suddenly portrays the other side of the Taiwan Strait as a cold-blooded and powerful regime, and then immediately switches its narrative to treat the other side of the Taiwan Strait as a paper tiger that is about to collapse, but then later hopes that ECFA will not be suspended.
Jiang Qichen stressed, “Such political manipulation has led to the current public opinion’s perception of the cross-strait situation being too one-sided and negligent. When the atmosphere in Taiwan society is politically hostile to the other side of the Taiwan Strait and does not want to return to the path of peace, but lacks a sense of crisis regarding the military threat on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, I am afraid this is precisely the crisis of maintaining security in the Taiwan Strait. However, we still believe that peace lies between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The KMT is not happy to see the cross-strait confrontation rising, and the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should resume dialogue as soon as possible, and moreover, they should actively create an atmosphere conducive to accumulating goodwill and reduce the possibility of war conflict with diversified interaction.”
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