ExclusiveChina Holds Drills in 5 Seas After Taiwan National Day | China in Focus

Welcome to China in Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer Our top story: after Taiwan's National Day, China is conducting live fire drills and at least five sea zones. It is unusual for the Chinese military to conduct such extensive drills along virtually its entire coastline. North Korea tests more missiles and showcases a long-range weapon. The U.S. says there's no immediate threat. Taiwan's diplomatic partners Paraguay and Belize defiant in the face of Chinese sanctions. Plus, what the State Department had to say on the matter. Beijing is conducting simultaneous live fire drills across multiple maritime zones from the Bohai Sea to the South China Sea. Taiwan says that its military is closely monitoring the situation. The exercises have been launched in at least five coastal sea areas, including the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. The drills follow Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's National Day speech on October 10. In that address, Lai called on Taiwan to become a city upon a hill, a phrase drawn from the Bible and used by American leaders. He said Taiwan must build this city with courage and confidence on the foundation of democratic governance. The closest drill zone lies about 159 nautical miles from Taiwan. Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo says the exercises are believed to involve coastal artillery units, adding Taiwan is preparing for different scenarios and monitoring developments closely. The U.S. has repeatedly called China's pressure on Taiwan deeply destabilizing and urged Beijing to exercise restraint and pursue dialogue. Chinese state media released footage of an unannounced nighttime drill involving the DF-26 ballistic missile system. The drill was carried out without prior notice. The DF-26 is often called China's Guam killer. It is a road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile system. Zooming out, a Taiwanese expert told the Epoch Times that China's military exercises are routine drills. He said Beijing needs to project strength against Taiwan ahead of this month's top leadership meeting. He added that it's worth watching how China's domestic politics and U.S.-China relations unfold after the meeting as that could have more consequential impact on Taiwan. North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles Monday. Washington says there is no immediate threat as the U.S. and its allies coordinate their response. The weapons flew from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea. According to South Korea's military, Japan detected at least two launches. One missile traveled more than 910 kilometers or 565 miles. South Korea condemned the action as a show of force. It came days after Seoul tested its own hypersonic missile. Japan launched a strong protest. The Defense Ministry will continue to work closely with the United States, South Korea, and other partners, and will devote its full efforts to information gathering, analysis, and surveillance activities in order to safeguard the lives and property of the Japanese people. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launches posed no immediate threat to American personnel, territory, or allies. On Tuesday, senior officials from the U.S., South Korea, and Japan held talks. They condemned the launches as violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions and called on Pyongyang to stop. Separately, Kim Jong-un has showcased an intercontinental ballistic missile presented as capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Meanwhile, President Trump said he may meet Kim Jong-un during a trip to Asia in November. That would be exciting, but I get along with him. It has fueled speculation that President Trump may revive personal diplomacy with Kim Jong-un. The two leaders have met three times in person, first in Singapore in June 2018, then in Hanoi in February 2019, and finally at Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border in June 2019. The State Department saying today the administration opposes coercion and aggression by China against countries for exercising their sovereign rights. The comments come after Beijing slapped sanctions on officials from diplomatic partners of Taiwan, Paraguay and Belize. Such a move marks the first of its kind. One of the sanctioned officials, Paraguay's Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, said the move was to be expected given the projects Paraguay and Taiwan are pursuing together, including a data center. He said Paraguay and Taiwan will continue working on all the projects we have and we will push this even more strongly. Belize's foreign ministry rejected the sanctions, saying Belize remained fully committed to its relationship with Taiwan. Taiwan's premier saying today that China has no right to interfere in the island's internal affairs. Here's Taiwan's premier. China has no right to interfere in Taiwan's internal affairs or influence its foreign relations. We will continue to work more with our allies and other democracies. Premier Chou Jong-tai says Taiwan will continue working with its allies and other democracies to defend freedom and democracy and resist any expansion of authoritarian forces. Coming up, a tiny Pacific island nation is standing firm against Beijing's pressure of maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Why is Palau strategically important to the U.S. defense posture? And what new Chinese-linked interests near U.S. military sites in Palau mean for regional security? That and more after the break. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. A tiny island country in the Pacific is resisting Beijing's pressure and keeping its diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Why Palau matters for U.S. containment of Chinese power projection and why there's Chinese presence near U.S. military sites in Palau. American Thought Leader's host Yania Kellick spoke to veteran Palauan journalist Kambas Kesole for his insight. Here's more. Kambas Kesole, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders. Thank you for having me. So we're here in Palau, one of the three countries that is in the compacts of free association with America. We have big powers interested in Palau, stark geopolitics. We've been seeing this in the context of the Pacific Islands Forum Leadership Meeting. Tell me, what is the most important thing from your perspective that we need to know about Palau and Palauans? When you talk about geopolitics, Palau is in there. Why? Because Palau has a close relationship with the United States of America and also recognize Taiwan diplomatically. And this geopolitical rivalry is between these two major economic and military powers trying to gain influence. And there's China and there's America on both sides. And Palau is in the middle because of its recognition of Taiwan diplomatically. And I think that's very important to know because Palau is an island country. it's about 188 square miles with a population of less than 20,000 people so it's not it's that big but it has made international news because it's now a site for military radar installations high-altitude military radar installations and Palau when you when you look at it it's in the US defense posture, it's the second island chain, it's at the southern end of the second island chain. And so that is why Palau is very important in the geopolitics because of its recognition of Taiwan which China does not like, and because it fits well with the United States defensive posture as is identified or as is part of the Compact of Free Association which Palau public approved so many years ago and it's still in effect today so you mentioned this radar array that's being built by the United States in the north i'm recalling that one of these properties that was leased i think for 99 years by Prince Group this group that was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department not too long ago had a property immediately abutting this radar installation It's concerning because, you know, here's the United States with a compact agreement for Palau. And so that Takmor site is there because of this agreement that was negotiated and approved by the Palawan public. On the other side of the street is that property you mentioned, which we know that they'll probably be doing that to monitor whatever, what is there, what is happening, what is the United States, what are they doing here, what military installations will be placed there. So they're trying to counter each other. I also looked into some other areas. So some of the hotels here, and I think there's a hotel development in one of the islands here. So I heard that they had this hotel development, over 100 rooms, resort. They had a device that monitors communications. And this developer is a Chinese developer. So it raises suspicions and then confirms what you seem to have heard, that the Chinese are here for other reasons than just building hotels and trying to, their foreign direct investment might be coming in with other elements other than a pure business or economic reasons. And that Takmor sites in the north is yes, it's really, and that the latest that I heard is that that property that the Chinese has leased and opposite, they've started clearing the property, maybe for aquaculture purposes or something. But the fact that some of these US military installations, there's always Chinese leased land next to it, it just gives you this sort of feeling that maybe there's a battle within Palau that is happening right now. As we are speaking, Palau is hosting the 55th Pacific Island Forum Leaders' Meeting. I think there were like five or six heads of state that did not come to Palau. Is it something that because of Palau's recognition of Taiwan that China has to work hard to forbid its friends not to attend, to kind of delegitimize Palau's role in hosting this. Those are the things that come to our head. Well, I can tell you, I had an exclusive interview with the president who said that this envoy to the Pacific Islands from communist China basically told him that it's not acceptable to have taiwan be part of the event it needs to be excluded of course obviously he rejected this because taiwan is here but then again you know after taiwan attended the opening ceremony you know in as this partner not as a participant but as a kind of an observer partner um that same envoy reiterated that there will be consequences yeah the president said that that the envoy told them there would be retaliation basically so yes that's uh those are very uh strong statements and and it is exactly that those kind of statement from the big countries like china that doesn't help like we have to be uh the islands have to be allowed to be their sovereignty their sovereignty has to be respected meaning that let them be allowed to make their own decisions what they want just sit down and listen what they want to say to you and help them if you can if not then let them decide on their own let the Pacific Island countries decide what they want to talk about come up with their own decisions so that is a very unfortunate statement from China the Palau people have decided that yes there is a one China policy. We share the same values with Taiwan. We share the same history. We were also part of World War II, like the Japanese administration came to this island, the military. So those are very important to us. They will threaten, face the consequences, but Palau is strong. I think we are strong. We are very strong because we also have our own history. So let's look a bit at the history. I've been learning about the history of Palau and how these compacts of free association came to be ratified. It was a difficult process, right? Right. And I mean, in fact, you know, your family, and historically I've learned, was actually not so interested in seeing them ratified. Can you give me a picture of that history, right? And maybe go even further back, right? Like, how is it that it came to be that these compacts became an opportunity for Palauans in the first place? So during the 60s and the 70s, there was a movement in the Pacific region. Many islanders were searching for their political status because for a long time we were under major powers, colonial powers. Like, Palau has been under Spanish, German, Japanese, and then the United States. So there was a movement in the Pacific Islands trying to search for their political status, independence movement, and Palau was one of those. So the idea of compact was, it was adopted by what New Zealand had with Cook Islands. Palau face the choice for their self-determination, whether they want to be like the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, they want to be the Commonwealth of the United States, or they want to be fully independent countries. But the Compact of Free Association kind of like the serve as an in-between, where the United States will give us the economic aid in return for military rights, and then allows Palawans to migrate to the United States visa-free to live and work and go to school, get their education and come back. So that was like a good deal. But when they started to negotiate for the Compact of Free Association, around the same time Palawans are also deciding on their own political status. So the movement was to draft a constitution. So it was drafting the constitution that the idea of a nuclear-free constitution came out. At that time, also the Pacific, the environmental movement in the Pacific, anti-nuclear movement was there. And during that time, during the drafting of the Palau Constitution, the United States government warned Palau that this may not fly with how the negotiations of the Compact of Free Association is going to be. because for this Compact, which gives the United States the right to come in militarily, and when they come in, they come in with nuclear-powered military vessels, naval. So already, Palauans are thinking about prohibiting any form of nuclear substance in their territory, which will not fly well with the United States, with the spirit of the Compact. To watch the full interview, check out NTD+. That's all for today's China In Focus. Tiffany Meyer, if you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at chinainfocusatntd.com. We'd love to hear from you. Round-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.