AFP, TAIPEI: Taiwan will not bend to pressure despite China returning to its “old ways” of intimidation, President Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday, following Beijing’s protests over her call to US President-elect Donald Trump.
China has stepped up military drills near Taiwan since the call earlier in December, in a move seen as putting on a show of strength as its ties with the self-ruled island and the United States deteriorate.
The call with Trump upended decades of diplomatic precedent in which Washington has effectively ignored Taipei in favour of Beijing, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province to be brought back within its fold. In her end-of-year address, Tsai urged calm from Beijing and warned that recent actions by China were affecting cross-strait stability.
“Beijing authorities are returning to their old ways of isolating and suppressing Taiwan, and even of threats and intimidation,” Tsai said.