China ready to step up pressure on Taiwan and US over mission office name change – up to a point

Biden administration reportedly considering Taiwanese request to change the name of its mission in the US capital to the Taiwan Representative Office

PLA tactics to bring Taiwan into the fold could include bigger drills, more frequent sorties and approaches to the island’s airspace, says former colonel

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Taiwan said 25 warplanes from the mainland entered its air defence zone during its annual military drill which ended on Friday. Photo: Handout

Liu Zhenin BeijingandLawrence Chung

Published: 10:00pm, 18 Sep 2021Updated: 11:37pm, 18 Sep 2021

Beijing is likely to step up its military activities to deter Taiwan while retaliating diplomatically against the US if the island’s de facto embassy in Washington gets renamed, but these countermeasures are likely to be limited, diplomatic and military observers said.

The Biden administration has reportedly been considering a Taiwanese request to change the name of its mission in the US capital from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Tecro) to the Taiwan Representative Office, which could be received by Beijing as a serious insult if it went ahead.

Beijing has “lodged solemn representations” with the US and urged it to abide by the one-China principle, a policy that confines foreign states to choosing between Beijing and Taipei to establish formal diplomatic ties, with no allowance for dual recognition.

The one-China policy is a result of the Chinese civil war that ended in 1949, leaving mainland China and Taiwan in a military stand-off until now. Washington switched its official diplomatic recognition to the Beijing government in 1979 and cut official ties with Taipei. And thus, the Tecro was launched to serve as the de facto embassy for the two sides to maintain close – but unofficial – links as well as arms sales.

Yue Gang, a former PLA colonel, said that since Beijing had always insisted it reserved the right to use force to bring the self-ruled Taiwan into its fold, military pressure on the island would escalate.

On Friday, 10 mainland Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, the island’s defence ministry said.

Taiwan, which concluded an annual military drill the same day, said 25 warplanes from the mainland had entered the zone since the Han Kuang exercise started on Monday.

“Certainly, we would not spare Taiwan from punishment if they did change the name of the mission, because the Taiwanese independence forces initiated it through intense lobbying and promotion, to cater and facilitate the anti-China atmosphere in Washington,” Yue said.