Taiwan to ‘adjust’ troop deployment as China moves to normalize military patrols

ISTANBUL (AA) – Taiwan has said its armed forces “will adjust” deployment after China announced an end to unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan, which were launched last week to protest a visit to the self-ruled island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has announced that it will continue “routine patrol,” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said its armed forces “will adjust how we deploy our forces considering multiple factors including troop morale and threats, without letting our guard down.”

The militaries of China and Taiwan avoided crossing the imaginary media line in the Taiwan Strait, but during the latest military drills, China fired ballistic missiles over the island nation, which fell into waters that Japan calls its exclusive economic zone. Beijing refutes the claim, saying the two countries are yet to demarcate their territorial waters.

Pelosi paid a brief trip last Tuesday and Wednesday to the self-ruled island, the first in 25 years by a sitting US House speaker.

She made the visit despite Beijing’s warnings that the island is a “breakaway province” and that her visit would be in violation of the country’s “one-China policy.”

Soon after she left Taipei, Beijing launched massive military exercises last Thursday which were scheduled to end on Sunday but were extended until this Wednesday.

Beijing also sanctioned Pelosi and her close family over the trip while downgrading military dialogue with the US and suspending cooperation in climate change besides six other “countermeasures.”