China is creating a “new normal” of increased military intimidation of Taiwan, according to a senior Pentagon official during a briefing this week.
China stepped up its military activities around Taiwan, including missile launches, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ’s visit to the democratic island earlier this year in spite of Chinese opposition. While the level of those activities has gone down since then, it is not where it was before her trip, the official said.
“That gives us a concern — even though we don’t see an imminent invasion, obviously — about sort of an elevated level of intimidating and coercive activity around Taiwan,” the official said. “It’s an issue from a U.S. policy perspective because we’ve got a long-standing approach that says [we] oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. And we expect that cross-strait differences will be resolved by peaceful means. And, sort of in contrast to that, we see the [People’s Liberation Army] doing things like the increased crossings over the center line, and behavior that appears to be intended to kind of intimidate or sort of wear down Taiwan.
It said the PLA conducted more than 20 naval exercises with an “island-capture element, greatly exceeding the 13 observed in 2020.” In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen greets other members of the delegation led by visiting British Trade Minister Greg Hands, at right, at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. President Tsai on Wednesday thanked British Trade Minister Greg Hands for London’s support for Taiwan after he became the latest foreign official to defy Chinese pressure and visit the self-ruled island democracy.
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