A top security official says China is preparing to turn military drills targeting Taiwan, such as the exercises held earlier this week, into an all-out attack.
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00:00Well, Monday's drills have been described as presenting more threats than ever to Taiwan,
00:06forcing the military to react quickly to those threats.
00:10And the security official also outlined how China fired two missiles, so that's some rare
00:16live-fire drills near Taiwan.
00:18They also said that 25 Chinese Coast Guard boats and Navy vessels approached close to
00:24Taiwan's contiguous zone, that's 24 kilometers off Taiwan's coast.
00:29Why was China conducting these drills?
00:31Well, the security official said that with these exercises, China is practicing how to
00:37turn drills like this into a full-out attack.
00:41China, of course, has been doubling down on its rhetoric.
00:45On Wednesday, it said it would never recount using force to take Taiwan.
00:50And this all comes as Taiwan has been offering olive branches to Beijing.
00:55President Lai Ching-de used his National Day speech to suggest that there could be more
01:00dialogue across the strait and areas that the two countries could cooperate on.
01:05For example, he flagged the epidemic responses and climate change.
01:10And this week, a government agency has also suggested that new frameworks could be used
01:16to facilitate exchanges, and is even planning to send two native Taiwan dears to China as
01:23a goodwill gesture.
01:26So despite Chinese aggression, why would Taiwan still be keen to push for dialogue across
01:32the strait?
01:33Well, I spoke to Jiayin Zhong of the National University of Singapore to find out more.
01:39So I think for Taiwan, they're willing to try to move ahead on the relationship across
01:45the straits.
01:46They want to show goodwill.
01:47They are also trying to avoid and actually demonstrate that they are not the troublemaker.
01:54They are not the intransigent party that Beijing is trying to paint them as.
01:58Beijing has been quite determined to label Lai as a troublemaker.
02:03They call him a dangerous separatist for his comments on Taiwan and its sovereignty.
02:09But what we've seen from Lai, especially from his National Day speech, is that he's keen
02:12to carefully choose his words so as not to provoke Beijing.
02:17Now he's showing that his administration will push for dialogue across the strait, even
02:23as more details of Chinese aggression emerge.
02:27Easton Chen and Rick Lowatt in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.