Following China’s exercises this week that simulated such a situation, Defence Minister Wellington Koo stated on Wednesday that a genuine Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be an act of war and have significant repercussions for global trade.
Over the past five years, China, which considers democratically controlled Taiwan to be its own territory, has conducted nearly daily military exercises on the island, including war games that have simulated blockades and port raids. Beijing’s claims to sovereignty are rejected by Taiwan’s government. Beijing claimed that China’s most recent war drills near the island, which were conducted last week, involved mocking blockading important ports and locations as well as attacking ground and marine targets.
Speaking to reporters at parliament, Koo noted that while those “Joint Sword-2024B” delineated the exercise area, there were no no-flight or no-sail zones. “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,” he said.
“I want to stress that drills and exercises are totally different from a blockade, as would be the impact on the international community.” Taiwan’s 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.
The ministry said the Chinese ships, led by Liaoning, the oldest of China’s 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. Koo said the Liaoning was sailing to the western side of the strait’s median line, an unofficial barrier between the two sides China says it does not recognize.
China’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Liaoning was involved in those same Chinese war games last week near Taiwan. Taiwan said at the time that the Liaoning operated off the island’s southeast coast during those drills, launching aircraft off its deck. Japan said last month the same carrier had entered Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time.
China has sailed its carriers through the strategic strait before, including in December shortly before Taiwan held elections. 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. 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.
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