'Missile Alert': Taiwan Holds Air-raid Exercise amid China Tension

File Photo: In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, second from right, watches as a military jet taxis along a highway in Jiadong, Taiwan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.(Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
File Photo: In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, second from right, watches as a military jet taxis along a highway in Jiadong, Taiwan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.(Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
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'Missile Alert': Taiwan Holds Air-raid Exercise amid China Tension

File Photo: In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, second from right, watches as a military jet taxis along a highway in Jiadong, Taiwan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.(Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
File Photo: In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, second from right, watches as a military jet taxis along a highway in Jiadong, Taiwan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.(Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)

Roads emptied and people were ordered to stay indoors in parts of Taiwan, including its capital Taipei, on Monday for an air-raid exercise as the island steps up preparations in the event of a Chinese attack.

Sirens sounded at 1:30 p.m. (0530 GMT) for the mandatory street evacuation drills, which effectively shut towns and cities across northern Taiwan for 30 minutes.

A "missile alert", asking people to evacuate to safety immediately, was sent via text message, Reuters said.

"It is necessary to make preparations in the event of a war," Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je said in a speech after overseeing drills for the exercise named Wan An, which means everlasting peace.

China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its territory and has never ruled out taking the island by force. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claim and vows to defend itself.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has renewed debate in Taiwan about how best to react in the event of an attack amid stepped-up Chinese military maneuvers around the island.

"Chinese military planes have frequently harassed Taiwan in recent years and there's even the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February, these incidents remind us that we need to be vigilant in peace time," Ko said.

In Taipei, police directed vehicles to move to the side of the road and passersby were told to seek shelter. Shops and restaurants pulled down their shutters and turned off lights to avoid becoming a target in the event of a night-time attack.

Firefighters practiced putting out a fire triggered by a missile attack. Sirens sounded 30 minutes later to give the all-clear.

Concern about China's intentions towards Taiwan has added to tension with the United States, which, while it does not recognize the island as a separate country, is bound by US law to provide it with the means to defend itself.

China has issued stark private warnings to the Biden administration that suggested the possibility of a military response to a possible trip to Taiwan in August by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Periodic air-raid drills are required by law in Taiwan. The island has raised its alert level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine even though it has reported no unusual Chinese military activity.

Other parts of Taiwan will carry out street evacuation drills this week. The exercise had been canceled for the past two years because of COVID-19.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made boosting defense capacity her top priority and said only its people can decide their future.

"When everyone receives the text message, do not panic," Tsai said in a reminder to the public on Facebook early on Monday. "Citizens, please evacuate according to the guidance."



Lavrov: Russia’s Relations with Syria Are Strategic, We Don’t Want Weak Truce in Ukraine

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Vladislav Deinego, head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, and Sergei Peresada, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in Moscow, Russia February 25, 2022. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Vladislav Deinego, head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, and Sergei Peresada, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in Moscow, Russia February 25, 2022. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Lavrov: Russia’s Relations with Syria Are Strategic, We Don’t Want Weak Truce in Ukraine

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Vladislav Deinego, head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, and Sergei Peresada, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in Moscow, Russia February 25, 2022. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Vladislav Deinego, head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, and Sergei Peresada, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, in Moscow, Russia February 25, 2022. (Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that the new ruler of Syria had called relations with Russia long standing and strategic and that Moscow shared this assessment.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that Russia was in contact with Syria's new administration at both a diplomatic and military level.

On Ukraine, Lavrov said Russia sees no point in a weak ceasefire to freeze the war in Ukraine, but Moscow wants a legally binding deal for a lasting peace that would ensure the security of both Russia and its neighbors.

"A truce is a path to nowhere," Lavrov said, adding that Moscow suspected such a weak truce would be simply used by the West to re-arm Ukraine.

"We need final legal agreements that will fix all the conditions for ensuring the security of the Russian Federation and, of course, the legitimate security interests of our neighbors," Lavrov said.

He added that Moscow wanted the legal documents drafted in such a way to ensure "the impossibility of violating these agreements."

Reuters reported last month that President Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.

Putin said last week that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with US President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.

Putin said the fighting was complex, so it was "difficult and pointless to guess what lies ahead... (but) we are moving, as you said, towards solving our primary tasks, which we outlined at the beginning of the special military operation."

Trump, who has repeatedly said he will end the war, said on Sunday that Putin wanted to meet with him. Russia says there have been no contacts with the incoming Trump administration.

Trump's Ukraine envoy, Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, will travel to Kyiv and several other European capitals in early January as the next administration tries to bring a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine war, according to two sources with knowledge of the trip's planning.

"I really hope that the administration of Mr. Trump, including Mr. Kellogg, will get involved in the root causes of the conflict. We are always ready for consultations," Lavrov said.

Putin says an arrogant West led by the United States ignored Russia's post-Soviet interests, tried to pull Ukraine into its orbit since 2014 and then used Ukraine to fight a proxy war aimed at weakening - and ultimately destroying - Russia.

After a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine's 2014 Maidan Revolution, Russia annexed Crimea and began giving military support to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The West says Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine was an imperial-style land grab by Moscow that has strengthened the NATO military alliance and weakened Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukraine's membership of NATO is "achievable", but that Kyiv will have to fight to persuade allies to make it happen.

Moscow says the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO was one of the principal justifications for its invasion. Russia has said it any NATO membership for Ukraine would make any peace deal impossible.