China on Friday broke its silence on days of heightened military activity around the island of Taiwan, saying it was up to Beijing to decide whether to hold drills.
An alarmed Taiwan this week established a "response centre" to monitor the Chinese drills close to the self-governed island after Beijing deployed its largest naval fleet in nearly three decades to the waters around the island.
Taiwan on Friday said nine Chinese coastguard vessels had sailed away, apparently marking an end to drills that simulated a blockadem with one string of ships off the island and a second one farther out at sea.
When questioned about the drills, China's defence ministry spokesperson responded with a quote from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, an ancient Chinese text on military strategy.
Wu Qian quoted: “Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.”
He added: “Whether or not to hold exercises and when to hold them is a matter for us to decide on our own according to our own needs and the situation of the struggle.”
China deployed around 90 navy and coast guard ships around the island at a time when Taiwan’s president Lai Ching-te went on a diplomatic tour that included stops in the US.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday demanded Bejing “immediately stop military intimidation and all irrational activities” that endangered regional stability.
Beijing maintains that Taiwan is a breakaway province and routinely conducts exercises around the island. China has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing has over the past four years carried out a variety of simulated attacks on the island, from missile bombardment to sea and air blockades.
China’s silence on its military activity this week was in stark contrast with previous drills around Taiwan, which are usually reported by state media with dramatic graphics and images and seen as a public show of force directed at the island’s government.
The Chinese spokesperson did not explicitly refer to this weeks’ activity as drills, but said: "Safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation, and the common interests of compatriots across the Taiwan Strait are the (military's) sacred duties.
"No matter whether it holds exercises, the People's Liberation Army will not be absent or soft-hearted when it comes to striking down (Taiwanese) 'independence' and pushing for unification," he said.
Taiwan’s defence ministry on Friday said it had only spotted 12 Chinese military aircraft operating nearby in the past 24 hours, down from 34 reported the previous day.
