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In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency,a projectile is launched from an unspecified location in China during long-range live-fire drills on Thursday.Credit:Xinhua

It followed China firing five missiles over Taiwan which landed in the ocean in Japan’s economic zone,bringing Tokyo directly into the dispute.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Saturday morning multiple Chinese ships and planes conducted missions in the Taiwan Strait,with some crossing that divides the democratically governed island from its superpower neighbour.

Taiwan’s army broadcast a warning and deployed air reconnaissance patrol forces and ships to monitor while putting shore-based missiles on standby.

After Wong met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa in Cambodia,the three issued a joint statement urging all parties to “avoid the risks of miscalculation”.

“Things are getting much riskier in South China Sea and Taiwan,and if you don’t have some sort of military dialogue that’s a big problem.”
Richard McGregor,Lowy Institute senior fellow

Wong,Blinken and Hayashi said China’s recent actions “gravely affect international peace and stability,including the use of large-scale military exercises”.

They condemned Beijing’s “launch of ballistic missiles,five of which the Japanese government reported landed in its exclusive economic zones,raising tension and destabilising the region” and urged it to “immediately cease the military exercises” over the Taiwan Strait.

Along with suspending talks on military relations and climate change,China’s Foreign Ministry said dialogue on the prevention of cross-border crime and drug trafficking would also be halted.

The visit by Pelosi,who has now left Taiwan,has enraged Beijing because it views the island as a renegade province and is increasingly fearful that the US is abandoning its “One China” policy.

US Special Envoy on Climate Change,John Kerry,said China’s move to suspend talks on climate change “punishes the world”.

“No country should withhold progress on existential transnational issues because of bilateral differences,” he said.

Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute Richard McGregor said the world’s historical biggest emitter and the current biggest emitter not talking to each other was “obviously not a good thing”.

McGregor said it was important to realise that Beijing doesn’t talk to the US on climate change to do it a favour and its senior policymakers treated the issue seriously.

He said the move to suspend military talks was much more serious,particularly given the escalating tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

“The two militaries do talk to each other. I’m sure they talked to each other in the lead-up to Pelosi’s visit to ensure nothing happened to her plane,” he said.

“Things are getting much riskier in South China Sea and Taiwan,and if you don’t have some sort of military dialogue that’s a big problem.”

McGregor said the problem for China was that its leaders cannot believe that US President Joe Biden couldn’t have stopped Pelosi from going to Taiwan.

“China thinks it is deliberate because of their own political system – it’s this congenital inability to recognise the separation of powers in the US.”

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