|
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up
military activity near the self-governing island over the past
two years, though Taiwan has reported no unusual manoeuvres by
Chinese forces in recent days as tensions over Ukraine have
spiked.
As Western nations warn a war in Ukraine could ignite at any
moment, Taiwan's presidential office said the military continues
to strengthen its surveillance operations, adding that regional
peace and stability is "the shared responsibility of all
parties".
"All military units continue to pay close attention to the
situation in Ukraine and movements in the Taiwan Strait,
continue to strengthen joint intelligence and surveillance, and
gradually increase the level of combat readiness in response to
various signs and threats to effectively respond to various
situations," it added.
Taiwan complains most frequently about China's air force flying
into its air defence zone, part of what Taipei says is a pattern
of harassment by Beijing.
Taiwan last month reported https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-reports-new-large-scale-chinese-air-force-incursion-2022-01-23
the largest incursion since October by China's air force, with
the island's defence ministry saying Taiwanese fighters
scrambled to warn away 39 aircraft.
Those flights have continued on an almost daily basis but with
far fewer aircraft: Taiwan reported just five were involved in a
mission on Saturday.
However, the presidential office added that the situation in the
Taiwan Strait was "fundamentally different" from the situation
in Ukraine, and called on people not to be misled by false
information.
It said fake information had been circulating using the
situation in Ukraine to affect morale in Taiwan, though gave no
details.
Speaking to Indian news channel CNN-News18 on Friday, Taiwan
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said they were watching very
carefully whether China was going to take advantage of a West
distracted by Ukraine to attack the island.
However with China in the midst of hosting the Winter Olympics,
it may not want any "major events" to divert attention from
that, he added.
"It's going to be very hard to say that after the Winter
Olympics are over whether Russia is going to launch at attack
against Ukraine or whether China is going to think about using
its military force against Taiwan," Wu said.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen last month set up a Ukraine
working group under the National Security Council to watch
developments and the possible impact on Taiwan's security.
Tsai has expressed "empathy" for Ukraine's situation due
to the military threat the island faces from China.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christina Fincher)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
