The United States yesterday warned China that its military encirclement of Taiwan is an “unwarranted” provocation that risks heightening tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.

US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said China’s actions are undermining peace and stability around the Taiwan Strait.

“The United States is seriously concerned by the People’s Liberation Army joint military drills in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan,” Miller said.

“The PRC’s response with military provocations to a routine annual speech is unwarranted and risks escalation,” he added.

China deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan on Monday in drills Beijing said were aimed at sending a “stern warning” to “separatist” forces on the self-ruled island.

Beijing has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control and Monday’s drills represent its fourth round of large-scale war games in just over two years.

President Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, has been more outspoken than his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen in defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing, which calls him a “separatist.”

Lai vowed on Monday to “protect democratic Taiwan and safeguard national security,” while the defense ministry said it dispatched “appropriate forces” in response to the drills.

‘Irreconcilable’

China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning hit back, saying “Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are irreconcilable.”

Taiwan said it had “dispatched appropriate forces to respond accordingly to protect freedom and democracy” and to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.

AFP journalists near the Hsinchu air force base, in the north of Taiwan, saw 12 fighter jets take off on Monday. They also saw about five military jeeps mounted with machine guns patrolling around Taipei Songshan Airport, which is also a military air base.

The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to a civil war in which the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island in 1949. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since then.

Shared concerns

The US urged China to refrain from further escalating the situation.

“We call on the PRC to act with restraint and to avoid any further actions that may undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the broader region, which is essential to regional peace and prosperity and is a matter of international concern,” Miller said.

Miller noted the US “remains committed” to its longstanding one-China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three joint communiqués, and the Six Assurances.

“We continue to monitor PRC activities and coordinate with allies and partners regarding our shared concerns,” he added.

In the Philippines, the Department of National Defense has yet to issue a statement on the matter, particularly the possibility of war in the Taiwan Strait, which is close to Philippine territory.

The Philippine military has a naval detachment on Mavulis Island in Itbayat, Batanes, which is 140 kilometers from Taiwan.

China and the Philippines have conflicting territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea, which overlaps the South China Sea, the latter being claimed nearly in its entirety by Beijing.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro doubted China’s commitment to settle its maritime differences with countries in the South China Sea.

“They are committed to dialogue, but only they believe in what they say — that’s the problem,” he said in Filipino.

During the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pressed for the fast-tracking of the Code of Conduct (CoC) for the South China Sea.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said the situation in the region was “generally peaceful” and that Beijing will “continue to work with ASEAN countries to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.”

Committed to dialogue

Teodoro maintained the Philippines is committed to a dialogue with China as long as the latter is honest in its statements and is not “aggressive.”

“We are also committed to a dialogue as long as we know we are not being deceived and we are not hurt,” the Defense chief said. “Let’s scrutinize their actions and what they are putting forward in the discussions on the Code of Conduct.”

Recently, Chinese vessels used water cannons against a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel conducting a resupply mission in Bajo de Masinloc.

Taipei isles on alert

Outlying islands administered by Taipei were on “heightened alert” and “aircraft and ships will respond to enemy situations in accordance with the engagement rules,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said.

The drills by China, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, are testing troops’ “joint operations capabilities,” according to Capt. Li Xi, spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command.

They are “focusing on sea-air combat-readiness patrol, the blockade of key ports and areas,” Li said. They also practiced an “assault on maritime and ground targets.”

The Liaoning aircraft carrier group “with its troops of army, navy, air force and rocket force” was also involved, Li said.

The previous large-scale drills held in May, three days after Lai’s inauguration, were called “Joint Sword-2024A” and lasted two days.

China’s coast guard was also sent to conduct “inspections” around the island.

A diagram released by the coast guard showed four fleets encircling Taiwan and moving in a counter-clockwise direction around the island.

The coast guard of the eastern province of Fujian — the closest area on the mainland to Taiwan — said it was conducting “comprehensive law enforcement patrols” in waters near the Taipei-controlled Matsu islands.

Taiwan ‘readiness’

“In the face of enemy threats, all officers and soldiers of the country are in full readiness,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Monday.

Lai convened a high-level security meeting over the drills, said Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council, who described the exercises as “inconsistent with international law.”

In his National Day speech on Thursday, Lai vowed to “resist annexation” and insisted that Beijing and Taipei were “not subordinate to each other.”

Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long defended the sovereignty and democracy of Taiwan, which has its own government, military and currency.