By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s government has condemned “dangerous” planned Chinese navy drills with an Indonesian warship off the island’s east coast, saying Beijing was trying to create a false impression to the international community that it controls those waters.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, and in June began coast guard patrols off the island’s east coast, causing anger in Taipei and concern in Washington and some other Western capitals.
China’s defence ministry said on Tuesday the drill, to take place in mid-August at a location east of Taiwan it did not detail, would be a “navigation exercise” with an Indonesian navy ship, a highly unusual move given China does not generally hold exercises with foreign militaries near Taiwan.
The Indonesian navy and defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Late on Tuesday, Taiwan’s China-policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said the drill was a “military provocation” and Beijing should “immediately stop this dangerous behaviour that undermines the status quo.”
Following a recent series of Chinese actions, including so-called “routine law-enforcement patrols” to the east of Taiwan, China is now attempting to conduct military exercises with “relevant countries” in waters east of Taiwan, it said in a statement.
“This is, in reality, political manipulation, ‘exercises in name, expansion in fact’, aimed at creating a false impression before the international community that the Chinese communists have jurisdiction over waters east of Taiwan,” it added.
Taking lawmaker questions at parliament in Taipei on Wednesday, Wu Tien-jen, assistant deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence, said the Indonesian warship China said would take part was on its way back from Japan rather than coming specifically to drill with the Chinese navy.
The ship was some 70 to 80 nautical miles off Taiwan’s east, in the Pacific, he added.
“Militarily this does not have a direct impact on Taiwan,” he said. “It has a geopolitical significance.”
TAIWAN HOLDING ANNUAL WAR GAMES
Taiwan is in the midst of its annual Han Kuang war games, where it simulates how to beat back an attempted Chinese attack.
China’s announcement came as U.S. Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby met with Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin at his Jakarta office on Tuesday.
Sjafrie told Colby that expanding defence cooperation with the United States is not intended to establish a U.S. military base in Indonesia, his office cited him as saying.
China recognises no sovereignty claims by Taiwan’s government and its military operates around the island on an almost daily basis.
Like most countries, Indonesia has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the island is home to more than 300,000 Indonesian migrant workers.
Taiwan’s government says only the Taiwanese people can decide their future and has repeatedly denounced Chinese military pressure.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Ananda Teresia in Jakarta; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Stephen Coates)
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