NSB chief takes indirect swipe at KMT chief's trip to China

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) Taiwan's top security official warned Wednesday that Beijing uses cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges as a "united front" tool to sow internal division, indirectly calling into question a trip to China by the head of Taiwan's main opposition party.

National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) delivered his warning while presenting a report on Taiwan's intelligence and security status before the Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

Tsai declined to comment directly on an ongoing visit to China by Kuomintang (KMT) Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), which she has described as a "peace tour."

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He was critical of exchanges between Beijing and Taipei in general, however, when offering a broader national security assessment, saying China used a "peace-and-war pressure" strategy against Taiwan combining coercion and engagement.

These efforts include military intimidation and gray-zone harassment to foster an atmosphere of imminent conflict and public anxiety in Taiwan, while also promoting cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges framed as peaceful engagement to highlight so-called "peace dividends," he said.

Tsai said such efforts aim to create two forms of division. The first is to deepen divisions in Taiwanese society by amplifying pro-China voices and potentially obstructing purchases of weapons from the United States.

They also aim to weaken the justification for U.S. involvement in the Taiwan Strait by framing "peaceful reunification" as a prevailing local opinion, he said.

These political and united front objectives remain embedded in various cross-strait exchanges, Tsai argued.

Turning to regional developments highlighted in the report, Tsai said China's recent designation of a large airspace reservation zone off the Jiangsu and Zhejiang coasts from March 28 to May 6 appeared to serve both military and political purposes.

Militarily, he said, it is likely intended to test the operations of foreign military aircraft, particularly those of the United States.

A U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was observed entering the zone on Monday, suggesting a political motive to gauge Washington's influence in the Indo-Pacific ahead of a possible high-level bilateral meeting.

Addressing China's ongoing gray-zone activities, Tsai said Taiwan has established an inter-agency coordination mechanism covering early warning, real-time reporting, maritime law enforcement, and the rapid repair and investigation of damage to undersea infrastructure such as communication cables.

He added that Taiwan's experience in maritime domain awareness has become a cornerstone of its intelligence exchanges with international partners.