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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Samantha Lock (now); Lauren Aratani, Joe Middleton and Rebecca Ratcliffe (earlier)

The US, Australia and Japan urge China to cease military exercises around Taiwan – as it happened

United States China Taiwan John Kerry Nancy Pelosi Missile Antony Blinken Fumio Kishida Japan Wang Yi

This live blog is now closed.

For all the latest coverage of the Taiwan crisis please read our most recent live blog in the link below.

Summary

Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage.

We will be launching a new blog shortly. In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the day’s events below.

  • Taiwan’s defence ministry accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday. Several batches of Chinese aircraft and ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait, 14 of which crossed the median line – an unofficial buffer separating the two sides – according to the ministry. Taiwan’s army used patrolling naval ships and put shore-based missiles on stand-by in response.
  • The White House has condemned the escalation in military drills. “These activities are a significant escalation in China’s efforts to change the status quo. They are provocative, irresponsible, and raise the risk of miscalculation,” a spokesperson said.
  • China has accused the US of interfering in Beijing’s internal affairs. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said the US should have stopped Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.
  • The Chinese embassy warned Australia against involvement in its actions over Taiwan, saying “finger-pointing” against Beijing was unacceptable. Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong earlier condemned Beijing’s “disproportionate and destabilising” actions, saying she had expressed her concern to her Chinese counterpart at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry said its naval forces are keeping tabs on China’s military vessels off the eastern coast. It comes after Taiwan accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday.
  • The People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command said it continued on Saturday to conduct sea and air joint exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan, as planned. It said its focus was on testing the system’s land strike and sea assault capabilities.
  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said China should not hold talks on important global matters such as the climate crisis “hostage”, after Beijing cut off contacts with Washington in retaliation for US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this week.
  • Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, the former US president Donald Trump has questioned why Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. He told supporters: “What was she doing in Taiwan? She was China’s dream, she gave them an excuse. They’ve been looking for that excuse.”
  • A Taiwan official who was in charge of various missile production projects was found dead on Saturday morning in a hotel room in southern Taiwan, according to the official Central News Agency. Ou Yang Li-hsing, the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was 57. The cause of his death is unknown, CNA reported.
  • The US, Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have urged China to immediately cease military exercises around Taiwan. In a joint statement, officials expressed their concern about China’s recent actions “that gravely affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises”. They also condemned China’s launch of ballistic missiles, five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones “raising tension and destabilising the region”.
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Chinese military drills near Taiwan were a threat to regional security. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday. The drills are a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens”, Kishida said.
  • North Korea has denounced Nancy Pelosi as “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability”, after the US House speaker expressed her commitment during a visit to South Korea to achieving the North’s denuclearisation. It also condemned her trip to Taiwan.
A Taiwanese F-5 fighter jet is seen after taking off from Chihhang Air Base on 6 August in Taitung, Taiwan.
A Taiwanese F-5 fighter jet is seen after taking off from Chihhang Air Base on 6 August in Taitung, Taiwan. Photograph: Annabelle Chih/Getty Images

Updated

Chinese diplomats continue in their campaign to lay the blame on the US and accuse Washington of causing chaos in the region.

China’s former ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, has just posted a lengthy series of tweets in which he quotes China’s foreign minister, Yang Wi.

In total disregard of the firm opposition and repeated representations of the Chinese side and with the condonement and even arrangement of the US government, Pelosi went ahead with the visit to China’s Taiwan region.

This reckless move seriously undermined China’s sovereignty, seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, seriously violated the commitments by the US, seriously jeopardised peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. It is only natural that China makes a firm response.

Our position is justified, reasonable and legal; our measures are firm, strong and measured; and our military exercises are open, transparent and professional. They are consistent with domestic and international laws, as well as international practices.

They are aimed at sending a warning to the perpetrator and punishing the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces. We will firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, resolutely stop the United States’ attempt to use the Taiwan card to contain China.

We will firmly shatter the Taiwan authorities’ illusion to pursue Taiwan independence by soliciting the support of the US. At the same time, we are upholding the international law and the basic norms governing international relations, particularly non-interference in countries’ internal affairs.

This is the most important international norm enshrined in the UN Charter. If the principle of non-interference is discarded, the world will return to the law of the jungle, the UshnaShah will become even more unscrupulous in treating and bullying other countries.”

Taiwan has welcomed delegates from the Caribbean nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines today.

Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s minister of foreign affairs, met with officials this morning ahead of their reportedly six-day visit to the island.

Minister Wu extended a warm welcome to Taiwan’s great supporter Ralph Gonsalves. It’s a real privilege to have the PM of our country’s Caribbean ally St Vincent and the Grenadines and his delegation with us at this challenging time.”

While we are in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia’s shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie has been asked if the opposition think Australia should support Taiwan militarily if China invaded.

I think it is a principled position to defend your neighbour, but it’s also a principle borne out of self-interest. If I don’t stand up for other countries, who will stand up for me? As a nation of only 26 million people on a vast continent, we need as many friends we can get.

In fact, I would say the era of the lucky country is over. It’s dead and buried and we need to start thinking with this new development over the last decade about how we secure ourselves into the future and the strategic culture of Singapore and Israel are good examples of how we can prepare for the challenges ahead, given our size and strength relative to countries like China and Russia.

Asked if he would go to Taiwan, after Nancy Pelosi’s visit sparked unprecedented military aggression from China, Hastie hasn’t ruled out the option.

I’m open-minded to going there. I have a very full dance card... with a young family and enough travel as it is, but certainly I’m on the record that I would like to visit Taiwan at some point.

They have invited me... I will wait and see.”

China warns Australia against 'finger-pointing'

The Chinese embassy in Australia has this morning condemned a joint statement from Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong together with her Japanese counterpart and US secretary of state in response to Beijing’s unprecedented military aggression.

The joint statement released on Friday expressed concern over China’s large-scale military exercises in the water of the Taiwan Strait and condemned China’s ballistic missiles landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zones.

In response, a spokesperson from the Chinese embassy has said Beijing is “seriously concerned and strongly discontent”. The spokesperson went on to say:

It is absolutely unacceptable for the finger-pointing on China’s justified actions to safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity. We firmly oppose and sternly condemn this.

The statement goes on to defend the actions taken by the Chinese government as “legitimate and justified” in order to “safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity and curb the separatist activities”.

The spokesperson says the one-China principle “should be strictly abided by and fully honoured. It should not be misinterpreted or compromised in practice.”

China’s consul general in Belfast has had some stern words to say about US involvement in Taiwan’s affairs this morning.

Zhang Meifang made the comments in a series of tweets:

So, the US provokes China. China is forced to respond. Region is destabilised, as well the relationship between the countries in addressing critical world issues. Threatening global peace and prosperity for all. Nice job Pelosi! Way to make your point! What was your point?

The USA poses the single greatest threat to world peace. And it does so under the promise of so-called freedom. For freedom under its terms is no freedom at all. And it comes at the price of peace itself!” she added.

Updated

Summary

It’s 7 am in Taipei. Here’s a summary of the latest developments.

  • Taiwan scrambled jets to warn away 20 Chinese aircraft, including 14 that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line, the island’s defence ministry said on Saturday according to Reuters. Taiwan said China’s military drills appear to simulate an attack on the self-ruled island, AP reports.
  • In response to the military drills, the White House released a statement condemning the escalation. “These activities are a significant escalation in China’s efforts to change the status quo. They are provocative, irresponsible, and raise the risk of miscalculation,” a spokesperson said.
  • Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, accused the US of interfering in Beijing’s internal affairs. Chunying also said the US should have stopped Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.
  • The Chinese embassy has warned Australia against involvement in its actions over Taiwan, saying “finger-pointing” against Beijing was unacceptable, reports Reuters. Foreign minister Penny Wong on Friday condemned Beijing’s “disproportionate and destabilising” actions, saying she had expressed her concern to her Chinese counterpart at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia. The Chinese embassy in Australia responded with a spokesperson’s statement on Saturday expressing concern and “discontent” about the remarks from the three countries.
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry said its naval forces are keeping tabs on China’s military vessels off the eastern coast. It comes after Taiwan accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday.
  • The People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command said it continued on Saturday to conduct sea and air joint exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan, as planned, Reuters reported. It said its focus was on testing the system’s land strike and sea assault capabilities.
  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday that China should not hold talks on important global matters such as the climate crisis “hostage”, after Beijing cut off contacts with Washington in retaliation for US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this week. Blinken spoke in an online news conference with his Philippine counterpart in Manila after meeting the newly elected president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and other top officials.
  • Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, the former US president Donald Trump has questioned why Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. He told supporters: “What was she doing in Taiwan? She was China’s dream, she gave them an excuse. They’ve been looking for that excuse.”
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry has accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday. Several batches of Chinese aircraft and ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait, some of which crossed the median line – an unofficial buffer separating the two sides – according to the ministry. Taiwan’s army used patrolling naval ships and put shore-based missiles on stand-by in response.
  • A Taiwan official who was in charge of various missile production projects was found dead on Saturday morning in a hotel room in southern Taiwan, according to the official Central News Agency. Ou Yang Li-hsing, the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was 57. The cause of his death is unknown, CNA reported.
  • The US, Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have urged China to immediately cease military exercises around Taiwan. In a joint statement after meeting in Phnom Penh on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ gathering, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of Australia and Japan, Penny Wong and Hayashi Yoshimasa, “expressed their concern about the People’s Republic of China’s recent actions that gravely affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises”. They also “condemned the PRC’s launch of ballistic missiles, five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones, raising tension and destabilising the region”.
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Chinese military drills near Taiwan were a threat to regional security. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday. The drills are a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens”, Kishida told reporters, speaking after a meeting with the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Tokyo on Friday.
  • North Korea has denounced Nancy Pelosi as “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability”, after the US House speaker expressed her commitment during a visit to South Korea to achieving the North’s denuclearisation. It also condemned her trip to Taiwan.

The Chinese embassy in Australia released a lengthy statement in response to the joint statement made by the foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and the United States that expressed concerns over China’s military drills in Taiwan.

“Instead of expressing sympathy and support to the victim, the Australian side has condemned the victim along with the perpetrators,” the statement from the embassy read. “This is completely putting the cart before the horse and reversing the right from the wrong.”

The statement went on to say that Japan “should be the first to engage in self-reflection and discretion” for its history of colonization in Taiwan.

“Australia should not take sides and blindly make unfair judgments that run counter to the facts.”

“We hope the Australian side should view China-Australia relations with serious attitude, respect facts, uphold justice and abandon wrong standing,” the statement read.

The New York Times published a story today analyzing the deep-set fears Xi Jinping has in his party losing control in China. Here’s an excerpt from the report:

Over informal, private meals with American leaders, China’s Xi Jinping let his guard down a little. It was a decade ago, relations were less strained, and Mr. Xi, still cementing his power, hinted he worried about the Chinese Communist Party’s grip.

Speaking privately with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Mr. Xi suggested that China was a target of “color revolutions,” a phrase the party adopted from Russia for popular unrest in the name of democracy and blamed on the West. The recent “Arab Spring” uprisings across the Middle East had reinforced his concerns that China was vulnerable to public anger over corruption and inequality, both of which the country had in abundance.

“Xi couldn’t have been more forthright that China is beset by malevolent forces and internally prey to centrifugal forces,” said Daniel R. Russel, a former senior American diplomat who accompanied Mr. Biden to China in 2011.

“He would talk all the time about color revolutions. That’s clearly a sort of front-of-mind issue for him,” said Ryan Hass, the National Security Council director for China when Mr. Xi later visited the White House.

Such fears have come to define the era of Mr. Xi. Over the past decade, he has pursued an all-encompassing drive to expand the very meaning of “national security” in China, bolstering the party’s control on all fronts against any perceived threats abroad that could pounce on weakness at home.

He has strengthened, centralized and emboldened an already pervasive security apparatus, turning it into a hulking fortress that protects him and positions him as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Mr. Xi has built what he calls a “comprehensive” system designed for a world he sees as determined to thwart China — politically, economically, socially, militarily and technologically.

For anyone interested in reading up on Taiwenese history and culture, University of Washington historian James Lin posted on Twitter a syllabus from his graduate class on the country.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about what life is like in Taiwan days after Nancy Pelosi’s visit as China escalates tension in the region. Largely, life is going on as usual. Here’s more from the report:

Democratic Taiwan is encircled by the fleet of Communist-ruled mainland China, part of Beijing’s response to a visit Wednesday by U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The four-day drill simulates a blockade of the main island, with live firing in demarcated zones—one of which is less than 6 miles from the Liuqiu lookout, where local businessman Kevin Tseng said dozens of visitors gathered with their cameras Thursday afternoon.

“They were there to watch the fun,” said Mr. Tseng, adding that the drills have had no noticeable impact on his scooter-rental business, with just one group citing them when they texted to cancel a booking. Otherwise, everyday life on the island goes on as usual, he said.

“If they really attack us, there’s nothing I can do about it, so I just relax and take it easy,” the 40-year-old said. …

Taiwan’s night markets were teeming Friday evening with crowds craving their favorite street food or lining up for bubble tea. Markets and grocery stores were well stocked, too. Cultural activities such as live-music performances in the capital of Taipei—dubbed Asia’s answer to Portland, Ore.—are continuing as usual.

The Chinese drills were largely absent from the daily conversations of more than 20 people contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

White House calls China's military drills "provocative" and "irresponsible"

A White House spokesperson said that China is trying to “change the status quo” through its military drills around Taiwan, according to Reuters.

“These activities are a significant escalation in China’s efforts to change the status quo. They are provocative, irresponsible, and raise the risk of miscalculation,” the spokesperson said. “They are also at odds with our long-standing goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is what the world expects.”

Updated

A slate of low-quality titles just published after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan are being sold on Amazon, one Twitter user pointed out. The books appear to be by fake authors, with some including Pelosi’s name in the title or cover.

Amazon has come under fire for recommending titles with questionable authorship to its customers, such as ones on coronavirus. Under Amazon’s content guidelines for books, Amazon does “not allow descriptive content meant to mislead customers or that doesn’t accurately represent the content of the book”.

Tech companies will likely have a lot on their hands as China escalates tensions with Taiwan. In 2019, Chinese state media outlets tried to buy paid advertisements on Facebook and Twitter that poorly portrayed Hong Kong protestors. In 2020, a swarm of accounts on Twitter were pushing out non-stop pro-Beijing content as China sought to shape the narrative around Covid-19.

Updated

Canada’s defense minister Anita Anand said that China’s military drills around Taiwan are an “unnecessary escalation” in an interview with CBC Radio.

“There is no justification to use a visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait,” Anand said. “It is routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally, and China’s escalatory response simply risks increasing tensions and destabilizing the region.”

On Friday, China’s foreign ministry summoned Beijing-based Canadian diplomat Jim Nickel over the country’s participation in a statement from G7 nations calling on China to end its aggressive action around Taiwan.

More drones were seen flying over the Kinmen islands Saturday night, Kinmen’s defense command has reported, according to CNA, Taiwan’s national news agency.

Similar drones were flying over restricted waters around the islands Friday night. In response, the Taiwanese army fired signal flares to warn off the unidentified drones.

This is Lauren Aratani in New York taking over for Joe Middleton. While it is still morning in much of the United States, it is nearly midnight in Taiwan.

A Twitter user posted a video of an EDM bubble-bath party taking place on Dongyin, an island that’s about 30 miles from China that’s been attracting Taiwanese tourists for years.

Before Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the country, a drone was spotted flying over the island. While Taiwanese officials haven’t identified the drone, they didn’t rule out the possibility it was used to test government response.

Summary

Here’s a summary of the latest developments as it passes 11pm in Taipei.

  • Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, accused the US of interfering in Beijing’s internal affairs. Chunying also said the US should have stopped Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.
  • The Chinese embassy has warned Australia against involvement in its actions over Taiwan, saying “finger-pointing” against Beijing was unacceptable, reports Reuters. Foreign minister Penny Wong on Friday condemned Beijing’s “disproportionate and destabilising” actions, saying she had expressed her concern to her Chinese counterpart at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia. The Chinese embassy in Australia responded with a spokesperson’s statement on Saturday expressing concern and “discontent” about the remarks from the three countries.
  • Taiwan scrambled jets to warn away 20 Chinese aircraft, including 14 that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line, the island’s defence ministry said on Saturday according to Reuters. Taiwan said China’s military drills appear to simulate an attack on the self-ruled island, AP reports.
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry said its naval forces are keeping tabs on China’s military vessels off the eastern coast. It comes after Taiwan accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday.
  • The People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command said it continued on Saturday to conduct sea and air joint exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan, as planned, Reuters reported. It said its focus was on testing the system’s land strike and sea assault capabilities.
  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday that China should not hold talks on important global matters such as the climate crisis “hostage”, after Beijing cut off contacts with Washington in retaliation for US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this week. Blinken spoke in an online news conference with his Philippine counterpart in Manila after meeting the newly elected president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and other top officials.
  • Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, the former US president Donald Trump has questioned why Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. He told supporters: “What was she doing in Taiwan? She was China’s dream, she gave them an excuse. They’ve been looking for that excuse.”
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry has accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday. Several batches of Chinese aircraft and ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait, some of which crossed the median line – an unofficial buffer separating the two sides – according to the ministry. Taiwan’s army used patrolling naval ships and put shore-based missiles on stand-by in response.
  • A Taiwan official who was in charge of various missile production projects was found dead on Saturday morning in a hotel room in southern Taiwan, according to the official Central News Agency. Ou Yang Li-hsing, the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was 57. The cause of his death is unknown, CNA reported.
  • The US, Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have urged China to immediately cease military exercises around Taiwan. In a joint statement after meeting in Phnom Penh on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ gathering, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of Australia and Japan, Penny Wong and Hayashi Yoshimasa, “expressed their concern about the People’s Republic of China’s recent actions that gravely affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises”. They also “condemned the PRC’s launch of ballistic missiles, five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones, raising tension and destabilising the region”.
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Chinese military drills near Taiwan were a threat to regional security. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday. The drills are a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens”, Kishida told reporters, speaking after a meeting with the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Tokyo on Friday.
  • North Korea has denounced Nancy Pelosi as “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability”, after the US House speaker expressed her commitment during a visit to South Korea to achieving the North’s denuclearisation. It also condemned her trip to Taiwan.
  • The US special envoy on climate change, John Kerry, said China’s decision to suspend bilateral talks on climate change with the US does not punish Washington, “it punishes the world”. “No country should withhold progress on existential transnational issues because of bilateral differences,” said the former US secretary of state, who is currently the Biden administration’s top climate diplomat. US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, also told reporters that China’s decision to halt cooperation in a number of critical areas was “fundamentally irresponsible”.

China claims US should have stopped Pelosi's visit

On Saturday, Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, accused the US of interfering in Beijing’s internal affairs.

Chunying also said the US should have stopped Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week.

She added that the US needs to stop trying to “hollow out” the one-China policy. This refers to an arrangement dating back to the 1970s that countries can maintain formal diplomatic relations with China or Taiwan, but not both.

Washington currently maintains an informal relationship with Taiwan that includes selling it weapons so it can defend itself.

Updated

These are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Taiwan.

Taiwan navy ships are seen at the port in Keelung, Taiwan, on 6 August 2022.
Taiwan navy ships are seen at the port in Keelung, Taiwan, on 6 August 2022. Photograph: Jameson Wu/Reuters
In this photo provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a People’s Liberation Army member looks through binoculars during military exercises on Friday. Taiwan’s frigate Lan Yang is seen at the rear.
In this photo provided by China’s Xinhua News Agency, a People’s Liberation Army member looks through binoculars during military exercises on Friday. Taiwan’s frigate Lan Yang is seen at the rear. Photograph: Lin Jian/AP
A Mirage 2000 fighter jet prepares to take off at an airbase in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on 6 August 2022.
A Mirage 2000 fighter jet prepares to take off at an airbase in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on 6 August 2022. Photograph: Ritchie B Tongo/EPA

Updated

American candy giant Mars Wrigley has insisted it “respects China’s national sovereignty” and apologised after an advert for its Snickers bar referred to Taiwan as a country, reports AFP.

Screenshots of marketing for the nutty chocolate bar featuring the South Korean boyband BTS were swiftly picked up on social media in mainland China, prompting outrage.

A statement from Mars Wrigley posted to the Snickers Weibo page said:

We are aware of reports on Snickers-related activities in certain regions of Asia, take this very seriously and express our deep apologies.

The statement added:

Mars Wrigley respects China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and conducts business operations in strict compliance with local Chinese laws and regulations.

Taiwan is a self-governing democracy but is viewed by Beijing as a breakaway province that it one day intends to “reunify”.

The Chinese embassy has warned Australia against involvement in its actions over Taiwan, saying “finger-pointing” against Beijing was unacceptable, reports Reuters.

China launched ballistic missiles during live fire exercises near Taiwan following the controversial visit of the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to the island earlier in the week.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said Chinese ships and planes conducted missions in the Taiwan Strait, with some crossing the median line, in what the Taiwan military described as a simulation attack on the island.

Foreign minister Penny Wong on Friday condemned Beijing’s “disproportionate and destabilising” actions, saying she had expressed her concern to her Chinese counterpart at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.

The Chinese embassy in Australia responded with a spokesperson’s statement on Saturday expressing concern and “discontent” about the remarks from the three countries.

The statement said:

It is absolutely unacceptable for the finger-pointing on China’s justified actions to safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Updated

Taiwan scrambles jets as Chinese aircraft cross median line

Taiwan scrambled jets to warn away 20 Chinese aircraft, including 14 that crossed the Taiwan Strait median line, the island’s defence ministry said on Saturday according to Reuters.

Taiwan said China’s military drills appear to simulate an attack on the self-ruled island, AP reports.

Taiwan also detected 14 Chinese military ships conducting activities around the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said in a statement.

Updated

Helen Davidson in Taipei reports of further incursions over median line in military drills:

China’s military has pressed ahead with its largest ever military drills, targeting Taiwan with what the island’s government called a simulated attack, including further incursions over the median line and drone flights over Taiwan’s outlying islands.

Global pushback on China’s live-fire drills, launched in response to a visit by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan earlier in the week, also continued, with condemnation from senior US officials and foreign ministers from Australia and Japan.

Beijing vociferously objected to Pelosi’s visit, which it said affronted its “one China” principle, a domestic policy outlining the government’s territorial claim over democratic and de facto independent Taiwan.

On Saturday, Taiwan’s ministry of defence said it had observed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) planes and ships operating in the Taiwan strait, believing them to be simulating an attack on its main island.

Read more from Helen Davidson’s here:

Experts have told AFP that the latest downturn in relations between the US and China could be long-lasting.

The suspension Friday of bilateral military and maritime dialogue while China continues its military exercises was “particularly worrisome”, said Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund.

She said:

We don’t know what else they will do. We just don’t know if this is just a temporary thing.

John Culver, a former CIA Asia analyst, said in a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that Beijing’s main purpose with its military exercises was to change that status quo.

He said:

I think that this is the new normal. The Chinese want to show... that a line has been crossed by the speaker’s visit.

Helen Davidson in Taipei analyses what the fallout from Pelosi’s visit means for Taiwan and China:

Things changed this week for Taiwan. When news of a highly controversial visit by the US speaker, Nancy Pelosi, drew threats of reprisals from Beijing, most citizens shrugged. China frequently fulminates over foreign visits to Taiwan, which it claims is a Chinese province it will soon retake, and with which it tries to stop any international cooperation. Its regular promises of countermeasures rarely exceed some People’s Liberation Army jets flying in and out of Taiwan’s large air defence identification zone (ADIZ).

But analysts warned that this time looked different. Beijing’s protests were louder and more threatening, and gave little room for either it or the US to retreat without losing credibility. This time, it would have to follow through with something bigger, they said.

China did.

Shortly after Pelosi arrived, Beijing announced military drills in six sea areas surrounding the main island of Taiwan, starting the morning after her departure and running to Sunday. The plan was unprecedented in how close the zones were to Taiwan, including some that overlapped Taiwan’s territorial waters stretching 7 miles (12km) out from its coastline.

Read more of Helen Davidson’s analysis here: What the fallout from Pelosi’s visit means for Taiwan and China

Taiwan’s defence ministry said its naval forces are keeping tabs on China’s military vessels off the eastern coast.

It comes after Taiwan accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday.

Summary

Here’s a summary of the latest developments as it passes 6pm in Taipei.

  • The People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command said it continued on Saturday to conduct sea and air joint exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan, as planned, Reuters reported. It said its focus was on testing the system’s land strike and sea assault capabilities.
  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday that China should not hold talks on important global matters such as the climate crisis “hostage”, after Beijing cut off contacts with Washington in retaliation for US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this week. Blinken spoke in an online news conference with his Philippine counterpart in Manila after meeting the newly elected president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and other top officials.
  • Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, the former US president Donald Trump has questioned why Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. He told supporters: “What was she doing in Taiwan? She was China’s dream, she gave them an excuse. They’ve been looking for that excuse.”
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry has accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday. Several batches of Chinese aircraft and ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait, some of which crossed the median line – an unofficial buffer separating the two sides – according to the ministry. Taiwan’s army used patrolling naval ships and put shore-based missiles on stand-by in response.
  • A Taiwan official who was in charge of various missile production projects was found dead on Saturday morning in a hotel room in southern Taiwan, according to the official Central News Agency. Ou Yang Li-hsing, the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was 57. The cause of his death is unknown, CNA reported.
  • The US, Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have urged China to immediately cease military exercises around Taiwan. In a joint statement after meeting in Phnom Penh on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ gathering, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of Australia and Japan, Penny Wong and Hayashi Yoshimasa, “expressed their concern about the People’s Republic of China’s recent actions that gravely affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises”. They also “condemned the PRC’s launch of ballistic missiles, five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones, raising tension and destabilising the region”.
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Chinese military drills near Taiwan were a threat to regional security. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday. The drills are a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens”, Kishida told reporters, speaking after a meeting with the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Tokyo on Friday.
  • North Korea has denounced Nancy Pelosi as “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability”, after the US House speaker expressed her commitment during a visit to South Korea to achieving the North’s denuclearisation. It also condemned her trip to Taiwan.
  • The US special envoy on climate change, John Kerry, said China’s decision to suspend bilateral talks on climate change with the US does not punish Washington, “it punishes the world”. “No country should withhold progress on existential transnational issues because of bilateral differences,” said the former US secretary of state, who is currently the Biden administration’s top climate diplomat. US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, also told reporters that China’s decision to halt cooperation in a number of critical areas was “fundamentally irresponsible”.

Updated

China restarts military drills around Taiwan

The People’s Liberation Army’s eastern theatre command said it continued on Saturday to conduct sea and air joint exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan, as planned, reports Reuters.

It said its focus was on testing the system’s land strike and sea assault capabilities.

Earlier on Saturday Taiwan’s defence ministry accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island.

Updated

China should not hold global concerns 'hostage', says Blinken

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Saturday that China should not hold talks on important global matters such as the climate crisis “hostage”, after Beijing cut off contacts with Washington in retaliation for US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this week.

Blinken spoke in an online news conference with his Philippine counterpart in Manila after meeting the newly elected president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and other top officials, as relations between Washington and Beijing plummeted to their worst level in years, reports Associated Press.

The US secretary of state said:

We should not hold hostage cooperation on matters of global concern because of differences between our two countries.

Others are rightly expecting us to continue to work on issues that matter to the lives and livelihood of their people as well as our own.

He added that cooperation on the climate crisis with China is vital and that shutting down contact on the issue “doesn’t punish the United States it punishes the world”.

The world’s largest carbon emitter is now refusing to engage on combatting the climate crisis.

Pelosi visited the self-governing democracy on Wednesday, angering China who claims it as their own territory.

Beijing swiftly announced sanctions against Pelosi for her “provocative” actions and cut off dialogue with the US government on Friday.

Updated

Amid escalating tensions with the US after Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, described her visit as a “contemptible farce” on Friday, saying she shot herself in the foot.

China declared that it was halting cooperation with the US on a range of areas from climate action to the military.

Its forces have also carried out extensive exercises around Taiwan in a demonstration of fury.

Updated

Speaking at a rally in Wisconsin, former US President Donald Trump has questioned why Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

He told supporters:

What was she doing in Taiwan? She was China’s dream, she gave them an excuse. They’ve been looking for that excuse.

Updated

Our China affairs correspondent Vincent Ni reports:

Relations between the world’s two largest economies have plummeted into further uncertainty as China halted ties with the US on a range of critical issues – from talks on the climate crisis to dialogue between their militaries – following the visit to Taiwan earlier this week by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.

The declaration of the series of “countermeasures” came as Beijing for a second day staged massive military drills surrounding the island of Taiwan and also announced sanctions against Pelosi and her direct family members for what it called her “vicious and provocative actions”.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said it had scrambled jets to warn away 49 Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone on Friday and a total of 68 Chinese military aircraft and 13 navy ships had conducted missions. The foreign ministry in Taipei also reported it had detected “massive” number of cyberattacks attempts against its website throughout Thursday and on Friday morning.

Read more of Vincent Ni’s piece here: China halts US cooperation on range of issues after Pelosi’s Taiwan visit

Good morning, I’m Joe Middleton and I’ve taken over blogging duties from Rebecca Ratcliffe. Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Taiwan crisis.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that China’s latest actions on Taiwan was moving away from a practice of resolving issues peacefully, to coercion and towards a use of force, reports Reuters:

At a news conference in Manila with his Philippines counterpart, Blinken also chided China for retaliatory actions that went beyond firing missiles to walking away from climate change talks. He said the US would work to ensure communication channels remain open to prevent miscommunication.

Senior Taiwan official died of heart attack, local media say

The Taiwan official who was found dead in his hotel room on Saturday morning (see 5.52am) died of a heart attack, according to official media reports cited by Reuters.

Authorities said there was no sign that anyone had broken into his room.

Ou Yang Li-hsing was deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, where he supervised various missile production projects. He was 57.

Updated

Summary

Here’s a summary of the latest developments as it passes 2pm in Taipei.

  • Taiwan’s defence ministry has accused Chinese aircraft and ships of carrying out simulation attack exercises on its main island on Saturday. Several batches of Chinese aircraft and ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait, some of which crossed the median line, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, according to the ministry. Taiwan’s army used patrolling naval ships and put shore-based missiles on stand-by in response.
  • A Taiwan official who was in charge of various missile production projects was found dead on Saturday morning in a hotel room in Southern Taiwan, according to the official Central News Agency. Ou Yang Li-hsing, deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was 57. The cause of his death is unknown, CNA reported.
  • The US, Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have urged China to immediately cease military exercises around Taiwan. In a joint statement after meeting in Phnom Penh on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ gathering, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of Australia and Japan, Penny Wong and Hayashi Yoshimasa, “expressed their concern about the People’s Republic of China’s recent actions that gravely affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises”. They also “condemned the PRC’s launch of ballistic missiles, five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones, raising tension and destabilising the region”.
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Chinese military drills near Taiwan, were a threat to regional security. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday. The drills are a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens,” Kishida told reporters, speaking after a meeting with the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Tokyo on Friday.
  • North Korea has denounced Nancy Pelosi as “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability”, after the US House speaker expressed her commitment during a visit to South Korea to achieving the North’s denuclearisation. It also condemned her trip to Taiwan.
  • The US special envoy on climate change John Kerry said China’s decision to suspend bilateral talks on climate change with the US does not punish Washington, “it punishes the world”. “No country should withhold progress on existential transnational issues because of bilateral differences,” said the former US secretary of state, who is currently the Biden administration’s top climate diplomat. US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, also told reporters that China’s decision to halt cooperation in a number of critical areas was “fundamentally irresponsible”.

Updated

Key event

In response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Beijing on Friday cancelled efforts to keep communication channels open between Chinese and US military commanders.

It’s feared that this raises the risk of an accidental escalation in tensions. Reuters has published some analysis on this:

Christopher Twomey, a security scholar at the US Naval Postgraduate School in California, told Reuters the severing of the communication links was worrying, coming at what he believed was the beginning of a new Taiwan crisis.

“That is precisely the time you would want to have more opportunities to talk to the other side ... Losing those channels greatly reduces the ability of the two sides to de-conflict military forces as various exercises and operations continue.”

As Chinese warships, fighter jets and drones manoeuvre around Taiwan, at least four powerful US vessels, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam are east of Taiwan, Reuters has confirmed.

Bonnie Glaser, a Washington-based security analyst with the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said, more broadly, prospects were “extremely low for holding talks on risk reduction measures or stability”. Over time, she said she expected the specific talks called off this week would resume but “right now, China has to signal toughness and resolve”.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chinese officials had not responded to calls from senior Pentagon officials this week but that was seen as China showing displeasure over Pelosi’s trip rather than the severing of the channel between senior defence officials, including US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Austin pushed for improved communication between the rival forces when he met Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe on the sidelines of Shangri-la Dialogue security meeting in Singapore in June.

Both Asian and Western diplomats said US military chiefs had been pushing for more frequent theatre-level command talks for some time, given China’s growing deployments across Asia, where the US navy has traditionally been the dominant power.

The Pentagon said on Friday that China was overreacting and the US was still open to building crisis communication mechanisms.

Updated

Taiwan official leading missile production found dead in hotel

The deputy head of Taiwan defence ministry’s research and development unit has been found dead in a hotel in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, according to the official Central News Agency.

Ou Yang Li-hsing, deputy head of the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was 57. The cause of his death is unknown, CNA reported.

Ou Yang, who was in charge of various missile production projects, had been on a business trip to Pingtung.

The military-owned body is working to more than double its yearly missile production capacity to close to 500 this year, as the island boosts its combat power amid what it sees as China’s growing military threat, according to Reuters.

Updated

Agence France-Presse is reporting some more lines from North Korea’s comments on Pelosi’s trip to Asia.

She visited Seoul and the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, or Joint Security Area between the two Koreas, earlier this week. Pelosi and her South Korean counterpart, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, called for “strong and extended deterrence against North Korea”, and vowed to support efforts by Washington and Seoul to achieve Pyongyang’s denuclearisation.

The North on Saturday denounced Pelosi for her discussions with Kim and her visit to the JSA and Taiwan, reports AFP:

On top of the deterrence talks, Pelosi “made her appearance even in the joint security area of Panmunjom, utterly betraying the vision of the hostile policy of the current US administration towards the DPRK,” said Jo Yong Sam, an official at North Korea’s foreign ministry, using the North’s official name.

“The US is just adding fuel to the fire,” Jo added in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency. China is the North’s key ally and trade partner, and Pyongyang also lashed out at Pelosi over her visit to Taiwan.

“Pelosi, the worst destroyer of international peace and stability... incurred the wrath of the Chinese people for her recent junket to Taiwan,” the foreign ministry’s Jo said in the statement.

“The US will have to pay dearly for all the sources of trouble spawned by her wherever she went.”

The rebuke from the North comes about a week after Kim Jong Un said his country was “ready to mobilise” its nuclear deterrent in any future military conflict with the US and Seoul.

North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests so far this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017.

Some further detail from Taiwan’s defence ministry on what it describes here as a “possible simulated attack”.

Taiwan’s army broadcast a warning, deployed air reconnaissance patrol forces and ships to monitor while putting shore-based missiles on stand-by.

Updated

Chinese aircraft and ships carried out simulation attack exercises

Taiwan’s defence ministry has said that some Chinese aircraft and ships carried out simulation attack exercises towards the main Taiwan Island on Saturday, Reuters senior correspondent in Taipei Yimou Lee has tweeted.

Several batches of Chinese aircraft and ships were detected in the Taiwan Strait on Saturday morning, some of which crossed the median line, they report.

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly has also urged China to halt its military actions in the air and seas around Taiwan.

“Canada is deeply concerned by the missiles launched by the People’s Republic of China towards Taiwan and into Japan’s exclusive economic zone. This action threatens regional stability and security,” she said in a statement on Twitter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the new Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr this morning in Malacañang palace in Manila.

Blinken reportedly said that relations between their two countries were extraordinary, founded in friendship, and said Washington was committed to their joint defence pact.

Marcos Jr said the current geopolitical context showed the importance of such ties. Marcos Jr also said he did not think Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan had raised the intensity of conflict in the region. “It just demonstrated it, how the intensity of that conflict has been,” he said, according to reports by GMA News Online.

Updated

The chair of this week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings said on Saturday that discussions among foreign ministers over Taiwan tensions had been lively and included some strong arguments, but it was better disputes were handled with words, reports Reuters.

Prak Sokhonn, Cambodia’s foreign minister, said he told a meeting of foreign ministers they must have calm, dignified, polite, and civilised discussions.

“The most important thing is that we continue to talk to each other,” he told a news conference.

Earlier this week, foreign ministers from ASEAN called for “maximum restraint” regarding the Taiwan Strait, warning the situation could lead to “serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers.”

Summary

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the Taiwan crisis. Here’s a summary of the latest developments as it passes 10.30am in Taipei.

  • The US, Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have urged China to immediately cease military exercises around Taiwan. In a joint statement after meeting in Phnom Penh on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ gathering, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the foreign ministers of Australia and Japan, Penny Wong and Hayashi Yoshimasa, “expressed their concern about the People’s Republic of China’s recent actions that gravely affect international peace and stability, including the use of large-scale military exercises”. They also “condemned the PRC’s launch of ballistic missiles, five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones, raising tension and destabilising the region”.
  • The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, walked out of a plenary session in Cambodia just as Japan’s top diplomat, Yoshimasa Hayashi, spoke on Friday. Wang called a rare news conference late on Friday, where he accused the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, of spreading misinformation. He called Nancy Pelosi’s trip a “contemptible farce” and stressed China’s military response to it was “firm, forceful and appropriate”.
  • The US special envoy on climate change John Kerry said China’s decision to suspend bilateral talks on climate change with the US does not punish Washington, “it punishes the world”. “No country should withhold progress on existential transnational issues because of bilateral differences,” said the former US secretary of state, who is currently the Biden administration’s top climate diplomat. US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, also told reporters that China’s decision to halt cooperation in a number of critical areas was “fundamentally irresponsible”.
  • Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said Chinese military drills near Taiwan, were a threat to regional security. Beijing announced four days of drills that are expected to finish on Sunday. The drills are a “serious problem that impacts our national security and the safety of our citizens,” Kishida told reporters, speaking after a meeting with the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in Tokyo on Friday.
  • Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Friday the island’s military had dispatched aircraft and ships and deployed land-based missile systems to monitor ships and aircraft that briefly crossed the Taiwan strait median line. On Thursday, China fired multiple missiles into waters surrounding Taiwan. The defence ministry later said the missiles were high in the atmosphere and posed no threat. It gave no details of their flight paths, citing intelligence concerns. Taiwan also said it scrambled jets on Friday to warn away 49 Chinese aircraft in its air defence zone, according to Reuters. All 49 Chinese aircraft crossed the Taiwan strait median line, the ministry said in a statement.
  • North Korea has denounced Nancy Pelosi as “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability”, after the US House speaker expressed her commitment during a visit to South Korea to achieving the North’s denuclearisation.
  • China has “historically been a victim of foreign aggression”, its foreign ministry spokesperson said. In a series of tweets on Friday, Hua Chunying said: “China had historically been a victim of foreign aggression. Today, the US still grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs and attempts to undermine China’s sovereignty and security from time to time.”
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