A real Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be an act of war and have far-reaching consequences for international trade, Defense Minister Wellington Koo said on Wednesday after last week\u2019s drills by China that practiced such a scenario. <\/p>\n
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\u2019s government rejects Beijing\u2019s sovereignty claims. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s latest war games around the island, carried out last week, included simulating blockading key ports and areas, and assaulting maritime and ground targets, Beijing said. <\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Koo noted that while those \u201cJoint Sword-2024B\u201d delineated the exercise area, there were no no-flight or no-sail zones. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to stress that drills and exercises are totally different from a blockade, as would be the impact on the international community.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pointing to data that showed one-fifth of global freight passed through the Taiwan Strait, a blockade would have consequences beyond Taiwan, Koo said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe international community could not sit by and just watch.\u201d <\/p>\n
While those war games last only a day, Chinese military activity has continued. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. <\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s Defense Ministry said earlier on Wednesday that a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait, travelling in a northerly direction after passing through waters near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas islands. <\/p>\n
The ministry said the Chinese ships, led by Liaoning, the oldest of China\u2019s three aircraft carriers, were spotted on Tuesday night, and its forces monitored the fleet. The Pratas are at the northern end of the South China Sea. <\/p>\n
Koo said the Liaoning was sailing to the western side of the strait\u2019s median line, an unofficial barrier between the two sides China says it does not recognize. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
The Liaoning was involved in those same Chinese war games last week near Taiwan. <\/p>\n
Taiwan said at the time that the Liaoning operated off the island\u2019s southeast coast during those drills, launching aircraft off its deck. <\/p>\n
Japan said last month the same carrier had entered Japan\u2019s contiguous waters for the first time. <\/p>\n
China has sailed its carriers through the strategic strait before, including in December shortly before Taiwan held elections. <\/p>\n
China says it alone has jurisdiction over the nearly 180-kilometer (110 miles) wide waterway that is a major passageway for international trade. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the Taiwan Strait is an international waterway. <\/p>\n
The US Navy regularly sails through the strait to assert freedom of navigation rights. Other allied nations, like Canada, Germany and Britain have also carried out similar missions, to the anger of Beijing. <\/p>\n
Taiwan has also been worried about China\u2019s use of its coast guard in recent war games, and is especially concerned Taiwanese civilian ships may be boarded and inspected as Beijing seeks to assert legal authority in the strait. <\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s coast guard, in a report to parliament on Wednesday, said if that happened its ships would respond under the principle of \u201cneither provoking nor backing down\u201d and stop such acts \u201cwith all its strength.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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