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Defense Minister Qiu Guocheng said on Wednesday that China had crossed an unofficial “middle line” that runs along the waterway, breaking a tacit understanding of military operations in the Taiwan Strait.
While acknowledging that the tacit understanding of the central line has ended, Chiu told Taiwan’s parliament that if China crosses the “red line”, Taiwan will react.
He did not say what Taiwan’s “red line” was, but suggested it included Chinese aircraft, including drones, flying into Taiwanese territory. He did not identify the midline as the “red line”.
China, which considers the democratically administered island its own territory, conducted a large-scale exercise, including a missile launch, over Taipei in August to express anger over the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
Since then, Chinese military activity near Taiwan has continued, albeit at a significantly reduced level, and Chinese military aircraft have routinely crossed the median line, which for years has been an unofficial barrier between the two countries.
“The middle line should be everyone’s tacit understanding,” Qiu told a parliamentary committee meeting.
“That tacit understanding has been broken.”
China has never officially recognized a line devised by a U.S. general at the height of Cold War hostilities between communist China and U.S.-backed Taiwan in 1954, although the People’s Liberation Army has largely respected it.
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The Taiwan Strait is about 180 kilometers (110 miles) wide, and at its narrowest point, the median line is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Taiwan waters.
Some Taiwanese officials and security analysts said it would be difficult for Taiwan to defend the center line without increasing the risk of dangerous escalation.
Qiu said that China’s crossing of the middle line showed a new way of doing things that Taiwan would resist.
“They want to create a new normal, but we’re not going to change… When they come, we’ll be steadfast. We’re not going to give in.”
For years, China defaulted to an unmarked midline, but in 2020 a foreign ministry spokesman said it “doesn’t exist”. China says its armed forces have the right to operate around Taiwan because it is Chinese territory.
Taiwan denies China’s sovereignty claims, saying China has never ruled Taiwan and that only its 23 million people have the right to decide their future.
Earlier on Wednesday, Qiu told reporters that extending compulsory military service beyond four months was an “urgent” issue, but the ministry was still negotiating with other government agencies to work out the details.
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