Taiwan presidential election: Will firmly crush 'independence attempts', says China ahead of polls
Xi Jinping
Chinese military on Friday (Jan 12) released a statement saying it would "crush" any efforts made in a bid to endorse Taiwan's independence. The statement comesa day before the scheduled polls inthe self-ruled island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory.
"The Chinese People's Liberation Army maintains high vigilance at all times and will take all necessary measures to firmly crush 'Taiwan independence' attempts of all forms," Defence Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said in a statement.
Zhang further condemned Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party for propelling the island "toward the dangerous conditions of war" after it bought arms from China's arch-foe the United States.
Taiwan'sdemocracy of 23 million people is disbanded by a narrow 180-kilometre (110-mile) channel from communist-ruled China, which has pledged to retake the island one day.
The presidential electionscheduled for Saturday is being closely monitored around the globe as the winner will lead the strategically significant island, a prominent producer of crucial semiconductors, as it manages ties with China.
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In recent years, Beijing has maintained a recurrent military presence around Taiwan and has sent in warplanes and ships to its surroundings in the so-called "grey zone".
Chinese ‘spy’ balloons spotted over Taiwan
According to theTaiwanese Defence Ministry, Chinese balloons have been spotted flying over Taiwan a number of times in recent months. On occasions, they havecrossedthe narrow Taiwan Strait which separates the island from mainland China.
On Tuesday (Jan 9), Taiwan’s defence ministry said that it spotted four Chinese balloons over the Taiwan Strait a day prior, two of which crossed the Taiwan Strait.
This was after Taiwanese officials said they detected three Chinese balloons flying over the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.
However, the Taiwanese defence ministry has not directly said that the balloons are being used for spying. Officials have also said that so far they have not recovered any remains of the balloons and were not considering shooting them down, at least for now.
Amid rise in suchincidents, Taiwan accuses China of threatening aviation safety and waging psychological warfare on the island’s people ahead of its presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday (Jan 13).
(With inputs from agencies)