Well, as he had mentioned um China extending its drills near Taiwan following Nancy's Pelosi Nancy Pelosi's visit to the territory that was a week ago. Now drills ongoing joining us now, as Steven Angel Bloomberg's TV chief North Asia correspondent, Stephen,
what's the situation around Taiwan at the moment. Yeah, So we were going to have those four days of military exercises, which we did have from Wednesday to Sunday following Nancy Pelosi's exit from the island after her controversial visit, and they did have these six exclusion zones encircling Taiwan, and that's where we had a number of different exercises with the p l A, Navy, the Air Force as well
as rocket teams. A number of different missiles were fired, ballistic missiles as well as claims by Japan that a few of them actually went over the island of Taiwan and also into Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone or e Z. So it was set up for being quite an inflammatory a week. Obviously that was supposed to conclude on Sunday. But again we're hearing from the military of China that
they've either extended or launched new exercises. As we just heard from Ed that anti submarine operations are underway as well as well as air to see strikes. And again Taiwan would call this the most provocative by the p l A and decades. We'll have to see where it goes from here, Steve, as you know, I mean, the big concern here is on the invasion front, right that
that the mainland Chinese forces would actually invade Taiwan. Are people saying that this is essentially a dress rehearsal under these circumstances, I think they're using this opportunity to fine tune their tactics obviously, and to poke little holes in the fence around Taiwan. Uh see where there's vulnerabilities. And for their sake, Taiwan is doing the same thing. They're seeing the tactics being used by the p l A forces and where they need to bolster their defenses as well.
I would be the last wanted to say that Nancy Pelosi's visit would spark an invasion of Taiwan. I think there's been a standoff in a status quo for a long time for very good reason. Neither side if you will, would want war right now. But I think they're just testing each other right now. Yeah, to what degree, both Pelosi's visits and what we're seeing from the Chinese military at the vironment, it's really tailed to domestic audiences rather
than address rehearsal for an invasion. Oh, he absolutely, absolutely, if you're talking about shij and PINGI absolutely has a domestic audience to cater too. I think when Nancy Pelosi actually landed on the island, there was an outcry from ultra nationalists on way bar in the Chinese social media that the Beijing did not do enough well in the
last you know, six days or so. They've been trying to escalate, if you will, the military exercises and show a sign of strength, if you will, against the moves, and there's been some economic moves as well, But just how far can China go without also damaging itself as well on the economic front. So if you're she she in Ping and you're dealing with difficulties on the economic front visa vie the property market, you're looking at the People's Congress in the fall, do you exploit this as
a way of building nationalism? I think obviously everything they do kind of tries to build up nationalism and support for the Communist Party. I think that's Is it a distraction, It's well, it depends on how you do it. I mean, if you are seen by the populace in China as losing the optics game, then then it is a distraction.
But if you also say, you know, vilify Nancy Pelosi, villify the u S efforts to destabilize the status quo, then they can use it to their advantage, especially as you say at ahead of this Party congress where seed in Ping will very likely get that third consecutive term. A number of other countries Australia you're included, have described China's actions after Pelosi's visit as an overreact. Shouldn't do you think the US and its allies got a bit caught off? God by just how long these drills have
been going on for now? Well, Joe Biden was asked about that today and he expressed confidence that China would not escalate beyond just these drills. As I said, the economic sanctions so far a pretty miniscule. Again, the big economic trade between the two is on integrated circuits and China absolutely needs those integrated circuits from Taiwan, so cutting that off would do itself there you know, some harm um.
But again Joe Biden also kind of refused when he was asked, did did Nancy Pelosi cause this tension these military games? And he refused to falter. Really he's saying that was her decision to go. But I'm sure there's been a lot of internal dialogue and maybe some uh conversations if you will, behind the scenes. Is like that
probably wasn't such a good idea. Well, it's interesting you bring up the semiconductor story, I mean where Taiwan is concerned and the product that needs to go to the mainland. What has commercial shipping been like in the Taiwan Straight over the last week. Well, there was big concern obviously because these six exclusion zones, or as state media in China called them, danger zones. Uh many of them, or at least three of them I could see on the map,
are in the Taiwan Straight uh key shipping lane. Obviously for global shippers, some have had to divert around the east side of the island rather than go through the Taiwan Straight But shipping tracking data that Bloomberg has seen shows that four of the p l A so called danger zones are being traversed right now by merchant ships. So it seems as though the threat, at least according
to many of the shipping lines, has diminished. How does all of this get received domestically in Taiwan, not just Nanci Pelosi's visit, the military flaxing that's going on from China, you know, how do how do the ordinary Hiwanese feel about all of this? Yeah, that that's an interesting question. I think it probably um they've they've been dealing with this threat for many, many years. I lived in Taiwan in the early or to mid nineties, and there was
there was these kinds of things. In fact, six there was an eight month long standoff called the Third Taiwan Straight Crisis. Two different US aircraft carrier groups were sent to the area. One the Nimbits even passed through the Taiwan Straight There was serious saber rattling going on, and Taiwan got on with its business. And I think they're
still doing that as well. There's gonna be a little bit of economic pain, but even the Ministry of Finances chief statistician giving a press conference, the Chief statistician, essentially saying, because of the China's reliance on electronics and integrated circuits and the like, we expect very little chance of China imposing stricter economic sanctions that would be the biggest pain. That the military threat has always been there. But yes,
these are very provocative war games, obviously, Stephen, good stuff. Oh, by the way, very quickly, what do we know about the way in which this is being represented in Chinese press outlets. Oh, they're absolutely using it to their advantage as they would. I mean, the most of the media outlets are controlled by the Communist Party, so they'll they'll they'll be using this to their advantage. Obviously. Always a pleasure, Steve,
thanks so much for being with this Bloomberg. Stephen Engel, who is our chief Asia TV North Asia TV correspondent, joining us from Hong Kong