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Taiwan Will 'Defend Freedom and Democracy' Against Military Intimidation
Taiwan’s new leader, William Lai, vowed today that the territory will “defend the values of freedom and democracy” as China stages military exercises around the island.
© YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
Mundo Taiwan
"I will be on the front line with our brothers and sisters in the military to jointly defend national security," said Lai, who was sworn in on Monday during an event held at a military base.
"In the face of external challenges and threats, we will continue to uphold the values of freedom and democracy and safeguard peace and stability in the region," he added.
Beijing has defended the military exercises launched around Taiwan as a "serious warning" to the island's "separatists", warning that they will end in "blood".
"All the separatist forces for Taiwan independence will come to no good end, and their heads will be smashed in the face of the historical trend of China's complete reunification," said Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy.
China has surrounded Taiwan with military ships and planes as part of the exercises, which come three days after Lai's inauguration speech in which he defended that Beijing must "face the reality of the existence of the Republic of China", the official name of Taiwan.
The territory of 23 million inhabitants operates as a sovereign political entity, with its own diplomacy and army, although it is not officially independent. Beijing considers the island to be a province of its own, which must be reunified, by force if necessary.
The Chinese mainland considered that Lai's speech promoted "separatist fallacies" and "incited confrontation and hostility" between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The maneuvers began at 07:45 today (00:45, in Lisbon) and should last until Friday, said Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese army's eastern theater of operations, in a statement.
The operations are taking place "in the Taiwan Strait, north, south and east of the island of Taiwan, as well as in the areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin", reads the same note.
These last islands are located in the immediate vicinity of the eastern Chinese coast.
Speaking to Chinese state television CCTV, Zhang Chi, a professor at the National Defense University in Beijing, said the maneuvers aim to "impose an economic blockade on the island", strangling the port of Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan, which is of strategic importance.
This blockade would allow to cut "energy imports that are vital for Taiwan" and "block the support that some US allies are giving to Taiwan's 'independence' forces", said Zhang.
Read Also: Taiwan regrets China's provocative military behavior (Portuguese version)
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