SHANGHAI, August 11. /TASS/. The United States’ greater military presence in the Asia-Pacific region may force China’s armed forces to get more active to protect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Deputy Director of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, Yan Anlin, told TASS on Thursday.
"We hope that the Asia-Pacific region, including the Taiwan Strait, will be an area of peace and stability, and not a region faced with a looming threat of war. In the meantime, the US military is stepping up its presence and activity in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the Taiwan Strait. This not only fails to contribute to stability in the region, but, on the contrary, breeds tensions and anxiety," Yan said, adding that such actions by the US armed forces "may force the PLA (People's Liberation Army of China - TASS) to expand its activity to enhance the protection of China's sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The United States, Yan stated, is also constantly increasing military activity in cooperation with its allies in the Asia-Pacific region, which leads to further destabilization. He sees another negative consequence of the growing US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region in the risk of sending wrong signals to the proponents of "Taiwan independence" in Taipei, who may interpret them as Washington's support.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the whole Asia-Pacific region soared after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taipei on August 2-3, which drew sharp criticism from mainland China. Beijing had repeatedly warned Washington that it would retaliate, if Pelosi, number three in the US government hierarchy, visited Taiwan. On August 4, the Chinese military began large-scale exercises, including rocket launches in six areas around Taiwan. These exercises were supposed to end on August 7, but were prolonged indefinitely.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for China’s Eastern Theater Command said that all tasks of the exercise had been coped with but did not specify if the drills were over.
Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in the Chinese civil war. Taipei has since retained the flag and some other attributes of the former Republic of China, which had existed on the mainland before the Communists came to power. According Beijing’s official position, supported by most countries, including Russia, it is one of China’s provinces.