Taiwan accuses Beijing of simulating invasion as US-China relations nosedive

TAIPEI: Taiwan accused the Chinese army of simulating an attack on its main island on Saturday, as Beijing continued its retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taipei visit.

Relations between the two superpowers nosedived following Pelosi’s trip to China’s self-ruled neighbour -- which it claims as its territory -- prompting calls from the UN for an urgent de-escalation of tensions.

Beijing maintained some of its largest-ever military drills around Taiwan on Saturday -- exercises aimed at practising a blockade and ultimate invasion of the island, analysts say.

Taipei said it observed "multiple batches" of Chinese planes and ships operating in the Taiwan Strait, some of which crossed a demarcation line that divides the strait, but which Beijing does not recognise.

"They were judged to be conducting a simulation of an attack on Taiwan’s main island," the island’s defence ministry said.

In response, the democratic island’s military mobilised air and land patrols and deployed land-based missile systems, the ministry said.

As of 5:00 pm local time (0900 GMT), Taiwan’s army said "20 Communist planes and 14 ships were detected in the waters around Taiwan conducting joint air-sea exercises".

At least 14 of them crossed the median line, it said, forcing Taipei to scramble patrol planes to ward off the jets.

Taiwan’s army released images on Saturday of a sailor on one of its frigates monitoring a Chinese ship within touching distance alongside the caption: "Absolutely not photoshopped!"

It also showed soldiers activating its land-based missile systems to track the Chinese planes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meeting with his Philippine counterpart on Saturday, said Washington was "determined to act responsibly" to avoid a major global crisis.

The environment became the latest victim of the geopolitical jousting a day earlier, as Beijing said it would withdraw from a series of talks and cooperation agreements with Washington -- most notably on climate change and defence cooperation.

China should not hold talks on issues of global concern such as climate change "hostage", Blinken said, as it "doesn’t punish the United States, it punishes the world".

In a bid to show how close China’s forces have been getting to Taiwan’s shores, Beijing’s military overnight released a video of an air force pilot filming the island’s coastline and mountains from his cockpit.

And the Eastern Command of the Chinese army shared a photo it said was taken of a warship patrolling in seas near Taiwan, the island’s shoreline clearly visible in the background.

The drills have also seen Beijing fire ballistic missiles over Taiwan’s capital, according to Chinese state media.