Taiwan denounces Chinese military coercion, urges condemnation from international community

Taiwan on Thursday denounced the Chinese launch of ballistic missiles into waters in the island nation's periphery. It also urged the international community to condemn the act, demanding the former to exercise self-restraint.

New Delhi: Taiwan on Thursday strongly denounced China's launching of multiple ballistic missiles into the waters of Taiwan, urging the international community to condemn China’s military coercion toward Taiwan. This comes as US house speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, upsetting China and flaring up tension between US and China.

Earlier today, China launched multiple ballistic missiles into waters to the northeast and southwest of Taiwan, threatening Taiwan’s national security, escalating regional tensions, and affecting regular international traffic and trade. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) strongly condemned the Chinese government for following the example of North Korea in willfully test-firing missiles into waters near other countries and demanded that China exercise self-restraint.

MOFA urged the international community to condemn China’s military coercion toward Taiwan. The Ministry also called on countries around the globe to continue to speak up in support of democratic Taiwan to jointly safeguard the values of freedom and democracy, maintain the rules-based international order, and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The controversy over the Taiwan visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has severely impacted US-China ties, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his officials threatening that "those who play with fire will perish by it" and hoping that the US knew what it was doing.