Beijing fires missiles into Japanese waters; Taiwan tells China, ‘don’t do something stupid’

Beijing fires 11 missiles over Taiwan and near Japan in an unprecedented display of its military muscle as Taiwan warns China not to do ‘something stupid’.

Nancy Pelosi meets South Korean National Assembly speaker Kim Jin-pyo in Seoul on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Taiwan has warned China not to do “something stupid”, as Beijing fired 11 ballistic missiles over Taiwan and near Japan in an ominous display of its rising military strength.

In an alarming precedent, China’s People’s Liberation Army for the first time shot ballistic missiles into Japanese waters on Thursday, ratcheting up concern in a region unnerved by Beijing’s aggression.

Five “Dongfeng” ballistic missiles were shot over Japanese waters, while another six were shot near Taiwan, including over the island itself.

Japan’s Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi condemned Beijing’s “highly coercive” behaviour.

“We strongly condemn this grave matter involving Japan’s national security and the safety of its people,” he said.

An aerial view of an empty Keelung Harbour as China’s People Liberation Army holds a four-day live fire drill surrounding Taiwan. Picture: AFP.

President Tsai Ing-wen has been in rolling meetings with Taiwan’s National Security Council and the leadership of her government since Beijing failed to stop a historic visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pel­osi on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In an address to the nation late on Thursday, President Tsai condemned China’s “irresponsible acts”.

Beijing has announced it will continue its live fire drilling at least until Sunday and has positioned ships and planes in six spots, surrounding the island.

Taiwanese politician Wang Ting-yu – who met with Ms Tsai and other leading figures of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on Wednesday to discuss the evolving situation – said it was important Taiwan made it clear to China there would be dreadful consequences for any military attack.

“We have to make our enemy know: we are prepared. If you dare to do something stupid, you will fail and the price is too high,” Mr Wang told The Australian in an interview in his parliamentary office in Taipei.

“Taiwan’s sincere hope is that we can keep the peace and our sovereignty forever. And we hope China can become a reasonable and more civilised country. But a country cannot survive on dreams,” he said.

The Tsai administration believes the visit by the most senior US politician in 25 years has created a new “diplomatic precedent” – a crucial plank in its strategy to increase international support as Beijing threatens to use military force to bring Taiwan’s 23 million people under Chinese Communist Party rule.

“Pelosi’s trip is a model, a diplomatic precedent for other countries,” said Mr Wang, the DPP’s senior representative on the Taiwanese parliament’s foreign affairs and national defence committee. “I think that’s the thing China’s government is most afraid of.”

The Xi administration went to extraordinary lengths to try to stop the visit, with influential figures in party state media saying the People’s Liberation Army would shoot down the plane carrying America’s third-highest ranking politician.

After Ms Pelosi’s defied the threats, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi tried to downplay the trip’s significance, calling it “a sheer farce”.

Simultaneously, Beijing launched a trade coercion campaign and ramped up cyber attacks, while assembling its biggest show of military force around Taiwan. State media had saturation coverage of the live fire drills as PLA naval and air forces moved to six spots surrounding the island.

Some of the drills are as close as 16km from the east coast of Taiwan’s main island.

“The six exercise zones … establish a circle of blockade and deterrence,” Meng Xianqing, a professor at the PLA National Defence University, told China’s party state media. “The drills can convert to real combat at any time,” he added.

China’s drills are much larger than those staged in 1995 and 1996 in the lead-up to Taiwan’s first direct presidential election, a milestone in the nation’s transition from authoritarian state to vibrant democracy.

The foreign ministers of the G7, a group of wealthy countries on which China remains economically dependent, condemned Beijing’s military threats and economic coercion.

“There is no justification to use (Ms Pelosi’s) visit as a pretext for aggressive military activity,” said the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the US.

Ms Tsai told Ms Pelosi on Wednesday that Taiwan would do “whatever it takes” to strengthen its self-defence capability in the face of Beijing’s military build up, the biggest since World War II.

Ms Pelosi said the US had made an “iron-clad” commitment to preserve Taiwan’s democracy.

Mr Wang said Ms Pelosi’s trip was years in the making and preparations had long been made for Beijing’s response.

Unlike the “transit” trip the Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich made in 1997, Ms Pelosi stayed the night in Taipei after flying from Malaysia.

Mr Wang said that was very “meaningful” for people in Taiwan, as Ms Pelosi and her congressional delegation had given Taiwan the same treatment as Japan and South Korea, the next stops on their Indo-Pacific tour.

“In the past four decades … the international society ignored Taiwan’s existence,” he said.

“We are here. There are 23 million people here.”