If China genuinely carried out a blockade of Taiwan then it would be an act of war, defense minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday and added that drills and exercises are different from a blockade, as would be the impact on the international community.
After last week’s drills by China that practiced such a scenario, Koo spoke to reporters at parliament: “If you really want to carry out a so-called blockade, which according to international law is to prohibit all aircraft and ships entering the area, then, according to United Nations resolutions, it is regarded as a form of war.”
“I want to stress that drills and exercises are totally different from a blockade, as would be the impact on the international community.”
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past five years staged almost daily military activities around the island, including war games that have practiced blockades and attacks on ports.Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, Reuters reported.
He highlighted that one-fifth of global freight passes through the Taiwan Strait, and a blockade would have consequences beyond Taiwan, stating that “The international community could not sit by and just watch.”
Despite the conclusion of the recent war games, Chinese military activity has persisted. On Wednesday, Taiwan’s defence ministry reported that a Chinese aircraft carrier group, led by the Liaoning, sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a northerly direction after passing through waters near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas islands. Koo noted that the Liaoning was sailing to the western side of the strait’s median line, an unofficial barrier between the two sides that China claims not to recognize.
China asserts sole jurisdiction over the nearly 180 km (110 miles) wide waterway, a major passageway for international trade. However, Taiwan and the United States dispute this claim, maintaining that the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway. The US Navy regularly sails through the strait to assert freedom of navigation rights, and other allied nations, such as Canada, Germany, and Britain, have carried out similar missions, much to Beijing’s displeasure.
Taiwan has also expressed concern over China’s use of its coast guard in recent war games and fears that Taiwanese civilian ships may be boarded and inspected as Beijing attempts to assert legal authority in the strait. In a report to parliament on Wednesday, Taiwan’s coast guard stated that if such incidents occurred, its ships would respond under the principle of “neither provoking nor backing down” and stop such acts “with all its strength.”