China to begin live-fire military exercises near Taiwan coast in wake of Pelosi visit – as it happened

Our correspondent in Taipei, Helen Davidson, is reporting that two unidentified aircraft are appearing on flight trackers around Taiwan.

One has no call sign and has been doing laps of Taiwan’s southern coast in an area aligning with one of the PLA exercise zones, she reports.

The second aircraft has since disappeared but carried the ID FFAB123... It was east of Taiwan’s Lanyu island before dropping off radar.

A Taiwan-based pilot has since replied saying that the FFAB123 aircraft is likely a Seahawk and the one without a callsign is a Poseidon P-8. Both are likely US aircraft.

As Beijing has confirmed its military drills are now underway, Taiwan has said it will strengthen its self-defence capabilities and closely coordinate with the United States and like-minded countries.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou made the announcement during a news conference on Thursday, when asked about China’s planned military drills.

The series of military drills China is undertaking surrounding Taiwan can be seen in the map below.

4 Aug 202200.21 EDT

China's military drills begin – reports

Helen Davidson

The Chinese military drills around Taiwan’s main island have started, according to Chinese state media.

At midday local time, state broadcaster CCTV said:

From 12:00 today to 12:00 [0400 GMT] on the 7th, the People’s Liberation Army is conducting an important military training exercise and organised live fire.

During this actual combat exercises, six major areas around the island were selected and during this period all ships and aircraft should not enter the relevant sea areas and airspace.”

The six identified zones surround the island, and occasionally overlap with Taiwanese territorial waters. Some are also very close to key ports and Taiwanese authorities have accused the PLA of in effect conducting a blockade - a very serious accusation.

“The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Thursday conducted large-scale military exercises and training activities including live-fire drills around Taiwan island,” the broadcaster added.

Taiwan’s ministry of defence said its armed forces are “operating as usual” and monitoring surroundings. “We seek no escalation, but we don’t stand down when it comes to our security and sovereignty,” the ministry said.

Multiple reports are suggesting that tensions in the region surrounding Taiwan has led to mass flight re-routing and cancellations due to China’s planned military exercises.

BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell reported that some 900 flights have had to alter their routes because of PLA military exercises off the coast and that 50 flights have been cancelled.

Multiple airlines were advised on Wednesday to adjust their flight routes over the coming days to avoid six “danger zones” near Taiwan.

The Guardian contacted airport authorities on Wednesday, who said the cancelled flights were unrelated to the Chinese military activity.

Southeast Asia’s regional bloc Asean has warned that an increase in international and regional volatility could lead to “miscalculation, serious confrontation, open conflicts and unpredictable consequences among major powers”.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations made the remarks in a statement from foreign ministers after the bloc’s chair Cambodia had called on all sides to de-escalate tensions over Taiwan.

The statement was released as China’s foreign minister Wang Yi met with his Asean counterparts in Phnom Penh.

4 Aug 202223.35 EDT

China's French ambassador says Taiwanese people would be 'reeducated'

Helen Davidson

China’s ambassador to France has said the Taiwanese people would be “reeducated” after any successful annexation by China, in a fiery interview on French television.

The ambassador, Lu Shaye, accused Taiwan’s governing Democratic Progressive Party of conducting “extremist” propaganda and turning the Taiwanese people against “reunification” with China.

We will re-educate. I’m sure that...the Taiwanese population will again become favourable of the reunification, and will become patriots again,” he said.

Online, many observers noted the term “reeducation” is also used to describe Chinese authorities treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang.

There, authorities have sent an estimated 1-2 million people through what Beijing terms as “vocational education and training centres”.

Human rights groups and other governments say they are in fact part of a massive detention network. Lu denied the re-education would happen under threat, comparing it to French education of students on the values of its republic.

Challenged by the interviewer that Beijing wanted to have people thinking “correctly” in line with its own position because it did not like resistance, Lu said resistance “is not...the problem”.

“The Taiwanese authorities apply an approach of... how should I say... slicing the salami - advancing bit by bit. If we don’t react, if we don’t respond, in the end they will achieve their goal: independence.”

Lu said “the majority” of Taiwan’s population were in favour of formally becoming a part of China just one or two decades ago. It wasn’t clear what his claim was based on.

An analysis of dozens of polls conducted by various organisations between 1994 and 2000 show that only on two occasions have a majority of respondents supported unification. Both were polls conducted by the policy council of the current opposition Kuomintang party, in 2000.

All other polls showed support between 15 and 30%.Recent polling has found support for unification to be at record lows. One poll conducted by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Centre (ESC) in June found just 1.3% of respondents wanted unification “as soon as possible”, and 5.2% wanted to maintain the status quo before an eventual “move toward unification,”.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has called US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “complete farce”.

“The irreversible historical trend of Taiwan’s return to the motherland cannot be changed. Those who offend China will surely be punished,” he said.

Wang made the remarks on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cambodia on Wednesday.

The United States is violating China’s sovereignty under the guise of “democracy,” he told reporters.

Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and others ride the coattails of the United States and act against the noble cause of the Chinese nation.

These perverse actions will not alter the international consensus on the one-China principle, nor the historical trend that Taiwan will return to the motherland.”

Taiwan has pledged to step up security against possible disruptions by “overseas forces” including cyber-attacks as tensions with China rise following Pelosi’s visit to Tapei on Wednesday.

Taiwan Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng told a media briefing authorities had stepped security at key infrastructure including power plants and airports and increased the cybersecurity alertness level across government offices, according to a report from Reuters.

Lo said Taiwan expects to be the target in coming days of increased “psychological warfare”, which describes influence campaigns including misinformation to sway public opinion.

We are seeing psychological warfare that is stronger than ever before, and it will intensify in the coming days,” Lo said.

Taiwan officials have repeatedly warned about what they see as a Chinese campaign to weaken people’s support for the government.

Digital minister Audrey Tang said cyber-attacks on Taiwan government units on Tuesday surpassed 15,000 gigabits, 23 times higher than the previous daily record.

Several government websites including the presidential office were subject to overseas cyber-attacks, some of which authorities said were launched by China and Russia.

EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has again reiterated the G7’s stance on China’s planned military exercises following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

“There is no justification to use a visit as pretext for aggressive military activity in the Taiwan Strait. It is normal and routine for legislators from our countries to travel internationally,” he said.

“We encourage all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint, act with transparency.”