Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

China is using military drills, conducted without warning and using live ammunition, as a pretext for further encroachment on Taiwanese territory, National Defense University researcher Ma Chen-kun (馬振坤) said on Tuesday. The use of live ammunition meant the drills risked developing into combat, and likely represented a scenario in which Beijing could authorize the use of military force to deter “Taiwanese independence activities,” he said.

China used the drills to “further approach the 12 nautical mile [22.2km] baseline of Taiwan’s territorial waters,” and could have been “a pretext to break into Taiwan’s 24 nautical mile contiguous zone,” he said.

Washington should invite President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to the APEC leaders’ summit in November, a group of US representatives said in a joint letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Given Taiwan’s important economic, cultural and technological contributions to the region, we believe President Tsai Ing-wen deserves our full respect as much as Taiwan deserves fair and equal treatment on par with those of other recognition and standing in APEC member states,” 21 US representatives said in the letter sent on Tuesday.